Healing Touch (Book 1 Healing Series)
by Chell-P
Summary: Nobody truly understood what had happened that day 18 months ago at Donna's Wedding. All that her little sister Alice remembered was a man in a suit and converse trainers. But unknown to her things are about change when she gets dragged alongside her sister for a life changing adventure with an alien called The Doctor. Not knowing that it would change everything forever...
1. Partners in Crime

**Partners in Crime**

 **Disclaimer:** Alice Noble belongs to me, and the rest of the characters belong to BBC.

It had been a year and a half since the incident last Christmas, that at Alice's older sister Donna had vanished in a beam of light at her wedding whilst walking down the aisle. But a miracle happened many hours later Donna had returned, arriving at the reception that Lance and their mother Sylvia decided to throw without hesitation on Donna's part which left her fuming. To everyone's surprise she had brought along a rather tall, yet attractive man, who wore a brown pinstripe suit and sandy coloured converse. Alice couldn't really recall much of what his his face looked like, as she lightly remembered having gotten sent home by her mother after getting completely hammered. Having woken up with a really bad hangover the very next morning.

Alice had finished University last year and earned a History Degree, she was the first of the Nobles to get a high-end education which was something to be celebrated and was now taking a gap year off her education.

It was that only last week Donna had walked out of her job in Chiswick council's Health and Safety department. Now, a week later, Donna tried constantly to convince her sister to let her come into work with her at Adipose Industries where recently she had applied for reception work. But soon enough Alice gave in, out the kindness of her heart even if she thought Donna sounded absolutely crazy about what she planned to do.

"This is mad what you're doing! Letting you, snoop around my work as a fake Health and Safety Inspector. All because of some silly assumption you found on the internet, that's probably not even true. If they find out, I'll lose my job and it will be all on you," Alice implied moodily to Donna about the riskiness of plan, shaking her head, as they both walked towards Alice's work place.

Donna was wearing a matching black suit and trousers with her hair down, while Alice wore a smart yet fashionable blue blouse, along with a grey suit jacket that matched the pencil skirt, with daring electric blue heels and bag to go with her blouse. She had tied her strawberry blonde locks up into a neat bun.

"I know you've said it over and over how insane I'm being about this, but I will only be here for two-three days tops, after that I'll be out of your hair for good if I haven't found anything," Donna calmly reassured her sister for her not to fret over it.

They finally arrived at the building and entered together, both going their separate ways. What neither of them knew was, at that very same moment a certain Time Lord had secretly entered on the same quest for answers as Donna.

Later that day, much to Alice's dismay, at the end of her work shift Donna called telling her to find her own means of transport to get home, as it seemed she was planning staying out later than she intended. "Mum, I'm back," Alice called out to her mother, as she entered the house putting her bag down by the front door and slipping her heels off.

"Oh, hello dears," her mother returned in greeting, thinking both of her daughters have returned home. "You're back late?" she questioned out of curiosity, looking down at her watch before going over to the kettle and putting it on. In the meantime Alice walked into the open planned kitchen-living room, pulled out the kitchen chair and slumped into it with a sigh of relief. "Where's that sister of yours?" Sylvia asked her daughter with concern, only having just noticed that Donna hadn't followed in behind her. While waiting for an answer, she came over to Alice and handed her a mug of tea. Alice gladly accepted it and placed on the kitchen table in front of her.

"Out, said she was 'busy' apparently," Alice scoffed back in annoyance, covering for Donna using air quotes as she emphasised the word busy. "That's why I'm home late as well. Told me to get the bus home."

"That sister of yours has been nothing but an oddity lately. Has been like it ever since her wedding when that strange man showed up." Sylvia told her daughter with worry, as she joined her daughter at the kitchen table, bringing her own mug of tea and a plate of biscuits to share.

"I know mum, I worry about her too sometimes. But that trip to Egypt did her some good though." Alice calmly put, trying to keep her mother at ease about Donna patting her mother's hand gently, before she grabbed a biscuit and took a bite out of it.

The front door opened and closed at half past eight later that evening. Alice and her mother looked at each other and rolled their eyes, knowing exactly who it was, as granddad was still up the on hill looking through that silly telescope of his. "And what time is this?" their mother shouted out moodily, knowing their mother only meant trouble for Donna.

"How old am I?" Donna bit back at her mother.

"Not old enough to use a phone!" Alice heard their mother retort sharply to her sister, as she stepped out into the hall briefly. Sylvia had made Alice call Donna several times that evening to see where she was. After that her mother bite her sister's ear off for at least half an hour for everything under the sun. But neither of them knew that the following night would be full of surprises.

-Doctor Who-

The following morning Donna drove Alice to work again, after their mother nearly came out of the house in her dressing gown and with rollers in her hair, complaining that she needed the car to go out later that evening.

"So what's your grand plan at today then?" Alice asked in annoyance, breaking the silence between them soon as they arrived and parked up in the alley near her work.

"I'm staying until closing," Donna replied with an informative tone. As they now got out the car Donna locking it and walking on in front of her sister.

"What?!" Alice voiced in disbelief, catching up to her wondering if her sister has really thought this through and not get caught, "All day long? Are you mad? Where do you plan on hiding exactly?" But she Alice had her suspicions that her big sister was on a stake out. But what for?

"Yes all day. And I'll be staying in the women's toilets on the third floor," Donna simply informed her. Alice said no more on about the matter after that going their separate ways. She was going to find out what her big sister was up to because right now she has gone too far.

Work finished bang on six and as Alice bid everyone goodbye as they walked past reception, leaving the offices. Afterwards she headed straight up to the third floor where Donna is hiding in the toilets.

"Donna," Alice called out to her in a hushed voice as she entered the bathroom.

"Al, what are you doing here? I thought you would of gone home." Donna asked in surprise, poking her head out from behind the door of the last toilet cubicle, seeing her little sister standing there.

"Well Don, I haven't gone home, because I'm here to make sure you don't do anything dangerous or stupid," Alice replied harshly, glaring at her sister.

"Ok then," Donna sighed, knowing she had no choice but to let Alice stay. "Has the building cleared out?" she went on to ask, wanting to make sure it's safe to come out of hiding.

"Yes, about fifteen minutes ago, but whatever you came to do you need to do..." before Alice could even finish, Donna's mobile interrupted her and in return Alice rolled her eyes. "Really Donna, that will definitely help them not find us," she complained in a joyous yet sarcastic manner, still keeping her voice level down as they both dashed into separate toilet cubicles.

"Not now," Donna replied in an annoyed whisper, while Alice now listened in with her ear up against the wall, realizing from the tone of her sister's voice that it was their mum on the other end of the line. "I can't. I'm busy," Donna replied with the same manner, when their mother mentioned that she needed the car. "I'm in church," Donna lied convincingly, when in fact she was still in the office building. "Praying," she replied. Still, their mother went on talking about her friend that had been taking those Adipose pills. But before anymore could be said, the door to the ladies toilet came crashing open, hitting the wall and making Donna hang up her phone instantly.

"We know you're in here so why don't you make this nice and easy and show yourself?" Miss Foster, Alice's boss asked firmly. At this moment Donna thought that now would be a good time prop her feet up on the toilet to hide them from view. "I'm waiting. I warn you, I'm not a patient woman. Now, out you come," Foster commanded while getting a little impatient. "Right. We'll do it the hard way," she said the impatient tone audible in her voice now after nobody emerged from the cubicles. "Get her," she instructed her guards and they started to kick the doors open, but they stopped, eventually when they have found who they were looking for. "There you are," Foster said.

"I've been through the records, Foster, and all of your results have been faked. There's something about those pills you're not telling us," a young woman implied that she'd found dirt on the company, leaving Alice with her mouth hanging open, shocked on what she's just heard.

"Oh, I think I'll be conducting this interview, Penny," Foster told and called by name the woman who had hidden in the toilets. Alice and Donna were relieved that they haven't been found. As soon as Foster left, Donna and Alice carefully came out of the cubicles, looking around to see if they're gone.

"Now do you believe my silly assumption?" Donna asked turning to Alice smugly, knowing she was right all along.

"Yes, now I do," Alice replied back, now believing in her sister's hunch to why she needed to come here with her in the first place.

-Doctor Who-

After what just happened, Alice led her sister to the adjoining small office to Miss Foster's which connected straight on to hers. Both of them listened in intently on the conversation, not knowing the Doctor was doing exactly the same thing as well. Only except he was in a window cleaner trolley with a stethoscope pressed against the glass on the other side of the room outside the building.

Alice could not believe what she was hearing. This was all still shocking for her to find out that she's been working for a company that produces aliens from people's fat. Whether they did exist that is and they were called Adipose, named after the pills of all things. The thought alone just made her nauseous. They both now slowly sneaked through the circular window of the office door in to Foster's office.

Out the corner of Alice and Donna's eyes they saw him, the man from the wedding reception that was over a year ago. At least what Alice could remember of him apart from his clothing hadn't changed, she could now put a face to it and he had quite a nice face if she did say so herself. Even if he did look just as equally shocked as Donna did, as he stood opposite them mouth hanging open.

'Donna,' he silently mouthed her name in surprise as Alice now watched the silent exchange between them.

'Doctor!' she takes notice of the man's name her sister used, thinking it rather an odd name for someone, or that it was probably a nickname he liked to use.

'W-what?' he asked with a frown of confusion.

'Oh, my God!' Donna put back, not being able to contain her excitement that the Doctor was here.

'How?' he asked, still trying to make heads and tails over this.

'It's me,' Donna pointed to herself being rather too obvious, making Alice roll her eyes ironically.

'I can see that,' the Doctor gestured to himself and then to her that he got it, 'Who's that with you?' he asked nodding to the young woman with the reddish blonde hair and warm brown eyes beside Donna.

'My little sister Alice,' she introduced, knowing she hadn't really mentioned her when they met the first time round. Seeing as she was a bit preoccupied at the time.

Alice looked over at him.'Hi' she greeted giving him a small wave and a pleasant smile.

Before her sister went on in her excitement about seeing the Doctor, 'but oh this is going to be brilliant!'

'What the heck are you doing there?' he asked Donna was doing here the same time as him apparently.

'I was looking for you?' she replied honestly pointing at him. Now Alice found out why her sister was acting so odd. The real reason they were both stuck in the office is because Donna was looking for him, the man across from them. But what was so special about him?

'What for?' he asked a little confused. But after that Alice got lost in what they were saying to each other because Miss Foster notices them.

"Are we interrupting you?" Miss Foster asked them before the Doctor mouthed a word to them.

'Run!' And in doing so they headed to the stairwell going up the stairs, hoping to meet the mysterious Doctor halfway. Luckily they did, after going two flights of stairs they bumped into him.

They hugged each other, being so happy to see each other. "Oh, my God!" Donna cried with happiness, grasping onto the Doctor and checking if he was really there before her. While Alice stood in awkward silence before them, now recognising the suit he was wearing, the very same one from the wedding reception. "I don't believe it!" Donnas squealed excitedly, stepping away holding his arms, "You've even got the same suit!" she said while looking at his clothes. "Don't you ever change?" Donna asked.

"Yes, she's right! Do you ever change?" Alice asked in the same way.

"Yeah, thanks both of you, not right now," he said in all seriousness before there was the sound of the doors in the stairwell slamming open, making all of them look down. "Just like old times," he said excitedly grabbing hold of Donna's hand. "But for you this is something new," he added looking in Alice's direction before they charged up the stairs.

"You have no idea," Alice answered in a somewhat scared, yet excited way that she found this danger exhilarating, which seemed strange to her.

They all rushed out onto the roof, the Doctor locking the door behind them with some sort of device that Alice saw him holding in his hand. "Cause I thought 'How do you find the Doctor?' And then I thought, 'Look for trouble, and then he'll turn up'," Donna started to go on, explaining about how she started looking for him.

"That's why you wanted to come into my work to look for him?" Alice asked her sister moodily, gesturing at the Doctor before following him over to where the window trolley was.

"So I looked everywhere, you name it," she continued to explain. "UFO sightings, crop circles, sea monsters. I looked, I found them all," Alice thought she sounded crazy at first, but all the stuff Donna had looked up online sort of made sense since finding out her boss was an alien.

"That song about the bees disappearing, I thought, 'I bet he's connected'," she went on while the Doctor did something to the control panel of the trolley. "Cause thing is, Doctor, I believe it all now. You opened my eyes to all those amazing things out there," It sounded to Alice that her sister never believed in such things before, but she did now. "I believe them all. Well, apart from that replica of the Titanic flying over Buckingham Palace on Christmas Day. That's got to be a hoax!"

"What do you mean the bees are disappearing?" The Doctor asked Donna about that one particular thing, sounding confused as he went up the steps and into the trolley.

"I don't know. That's what it says on the Internet. On the same site, there were all these conspiracy theories about Adipose Industries, and I thought, 'Let's take a look'," Donna went on to tell him. Alice now knew that Donna's theory about this place had been right all along.

"In you get both of you!" he called to the sisters, when Alice's vertigo suddenly set in, remembering she was on a tall office building.

"What, in that thing?" Donna asked like he was mental.

"Are you insane? I'm not getting in that thing and I'm not exactly a fan of heights," Alice implied stepping away from the steps in fear.

"Yes, in that thing," the Doctor complained to them, not really taking her fear into account.

"But if we go down in that, they'll just call us back up again" Donna pointed out the dilemma.

"No, no, I locked the controls with a sonic cage. I'm the only one that can control it," he explained it as Donna climbed the stairs, the Doctor helping her. "Now, come on, you don't have to look. Just keep your eyes shut and you'll be fine," The Doctor assured Alice from the window trolley. Keeping herself calm, she closed her eyes and climbed the stairs as his rough hand took her smooth one quickly guiding her in before sonicing the window trolley to start moving.

The trolley had moved bit down the building a bit before Foster arrived. What they didn't know is that she had a sonic device of her own, pointing it at the controls and destroying them, making the trolley start to plummet. Alice opened her eyes screaming along with Donna holding onto the said trolley for dear life.

"I don't care how scared I am now but do something useful! Use that sonic thing you've got! Alice suggested, shouting out in fear while remembering him using it on the controls when Donna was rambling to him. The Doctor got it out straight away after she told him, pointing to the mechanism making it come to a complete stop at a window.

"Hold on! Hold on, we can go in through the window," The Doctor suggested while scanning the window for them to get back into the building. Which was nearly impossible because Foster deadlocked the building from the outside. "I can't get it open!" he shouted in frustration from not being able to get in. On the floor of the trolley there was a spanner that Alice picked up, showing it to Donna and passing it to her as a sort of a hint.

"Smash it, then!" Donna shouted and started to hammer on the glass, trying to break it. In the meantime Alice was praying it would work so she could get off this thing.

While the Doctor and her sister were trying to get through the window, Alice looked up as she heard the sound of a sonic device similar to the Doctor's, a light cutting through the rope, making Alice panic. "She's cutting the cable!" Alice shouted out, making the other two look up seeing it as well just before it was too late the cable was cut.

"Alice, Donna!" the Doctor called out in panic as Alice and Donna tumbled out of the trolley screaming.

"Doctor!" Donna shouted, scared for her life holding on to a piece of metal.

"Help me Doctor, oh my God help me!" Alice screamed out of her wits, holding onto the legs of her sister for dear life while keeping her eyes closed, knowing she was dangling so many feet off the ground.

"Hold on both of you!" he shouted back to them as he was trying to make sure they don't panic.

"We are!" they both shouted back together, as the Doctor tried to pull them both up by the cable but failed too because they were too heavy together as an equal weight.

But the Doctor noticed Foster was about to cut the other cable and pointed his sonic to where she was aiming at hers it shocked her and dropped it from her hand. He caught it and placed it between his teeth before climbing the cable and sonicing the next window above with Foster's device. "I'm going to fall I think my grip is slipping!" Alice shouted nervously while trying to keep grasp of Donna's legs her hands getting a bit sweaty.

"This is all your fault. I should have stayed at home," Donna complained to the Doctor as he looked back down at the two sisters.

"Yes, Donna we should have," Alice agreed with her.

"I won't be a minute," he told them, stepping through the window he just opened up while he thought of a plan to save the girls by going to the next floor below them. Which meant that he had to go into Foster's office to help them through the window.

He eventually got to Foster's office to where Alice and Donna where hanging in front of the window that they both spotted him at earlier. While Penny the reporter was tied up in the chair she complained and asked questions, while the Doctor unlocked the window with his sonic before sliding it up looking down to the younger Noble sister.

"Alice, grab hold of my hands and I'll pull you in," The Doctor told her what to do. Alice has let go of Donna's leg with her right hand and reached her hand out with her eyes still closed, grabbing hold of his hand and hoisting herself up through the window into the room, landing on her feet and finally opening her eyes.

"Get off!" Donna shouted while kicking her legs about, thinking that one of the guards have caught her, but it was the Doctor helping her now that he saved her sister.

"Calm down Donna, it's the Doctor! He's trying to help you!" Alice informed her.

"Donna, stop kicking!" he told her so he could help her through the window, in which he eventually succeeded.

"Is it always like this with you?" Alice asked him wonderingly, while Donna caught her breath thinking if his life was this daring and exhilarating that made that exciting rush go through her again like when she was in the stairwell.

"Oh, yes. And off we go!" he replied to them both, looking at the sisters with a menacing yet attractive grin on his face. They all rushed out of the room before the reporter called him back so he would undo the binds on her chair, telling her to get out of here.

-Doctor Who-

They continued going until they came to a complete halt of the office cubicles with Foster standing in their way.

"Well, then. At last," the alien woman said now that she had stopped them from leaving.

"Hello" Donna greeted her awkwardly with a small wave and then her sister did the same.

"Hi."

"Nice to meet you. I'm the Doctor" the Doctor greeted in a pleased way like he was happy and interested to meet her. He was doing so probably because he wanted to know her intentions.

"And I'm Donna. She's Alice," the older Noble introduces herself and her sister

"Partners in crime," Foster indicated while looking at all three of them. "And evidently off-worlders, judging by your sonic technology," Foster stated, looking in the Doctor's direction, making Alice now understand that he wasn't just a man; but an alien man and an attractive one at that. She has come to except maybe aliens do exist after all.

"Oh, yes. I've still got your sonic pen," he said pulling out the black and silver object that looked really convincing for a pen. "Nice. I like it. Sleek," he commented on how well crafted it is, showing it to Alice and Donna.

"It's kind of sleek," Alice commented before the Doctor looked at her strangely, like he was about to say those words but brushed it off as a coincidence.

"Oh, it's definitely sleek," Donna agreed with Alice and the Doctor on the sonic pen.

"And if you were to sign your real name, it would be...?" The Doctor asked with intrigue, wanting to know what her true name was.

"Matron Cofelia of the Five-Straighten Classabindi Nursery Fleet. Intergalactic class," Foster told the Doctor her true designation.

"Wow, that's a mouthful," Alice mutters to herself.

"A wet-nurse. Using humans as surrogates," he stated.

"I've been employed by the Adiposian First Family to foster a new generation after their breeding planet was lost" she told them her mission.

"What do you mean, lost? How do you lose a planet?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, politics are none of my concern. I'm just here to take care of the children on behalf of the parents," she replied, waving it off and letting them know it wasn't the sort of thing that she dealt with.

"What, like an outer space super-nanny?" Alice asked a little confused.

"Yes, if you like" Foster replied in agreement with the question.

"So..." Donna started, trying to think of what to say. "So those little things, they're made out of fat, yeah?" she asked, and the thought still made Alice cringe. "But that woman, Stacy Campbell, there was nothing left of her," she remembered what she saw when she was at the woman's house.

"Oh, in a crisis, the adipose can convert bone and hair and internal organs. It makes them a little bit sick, poor things," The alien woman stated.

"What about poor Stacy?" Alice asked with concern, stepping forward hearing about the poor woman who lost her life.

"Seeding a level five planet is against galactic law," the Doctor told Cofelia what she has done is wrong and against some sort of space law apparently.

"Are you threatening me?" Matron Cofelia asked, feeling like she has been challenged by what the Doctor said about the law.

"I'm trying to help you, Matron. This is your one chance," he said, offering to help her with a way out of if she would accept this chance he was giving her. "Cause' if you don't call this off, then I'll have to stop you," he warned her that he'll bring down her operation by force.

"I hardly think you can stop bullets," she threatened, making the guards point their machine guns at them and making Alice and Donna jump in fear.

"No, hold on, hold on, hold on!" the Doctor said and put his hands up in surrender, making them halt their actions.

"One more thing, before dying," he said while getting his sonic out of his suit jacket. "Do you know what happens if you hold two identical sonic devices against each other?" he asked and held both sonic objects in each hand.

"No," Cofelia replied, being unsure what he was trying to do. Alice and Donna were also unsure about his next move.

"Nor me. Let's find out," he said before holding them opposite each other, pressing the buttons on them and making the most severe high-pitched noise ever heard making a piece of glass break. Everyone has covered their ears except for the Doctor who was still holding the sonic devices. Alice nudges him so he would stop and so they have left.

-Doctor Who-

They got down to the basement level of the building. Before coming to a halt at a cleaning cupboard. The Doctor went inside and started to throw everything out, from a ladder to a mop bucket.

"Well, that's one solution. Hiding in a cupboard. I like it," Donna implied. Alice thought so too and nodded her head.

"Been hacking into this thing all day 'cause the Matron's got a computer core running through the centre of the building. Triple-dead locked," the Doctor explained to both as he slid on some glasses that Alice found rather sexy on him, but she shook her head to make that thought go away. She and Donna tried to understand what he was saying as he slid the wall panel open, revealing alien machinery as they came in and closed the door behind them. "But now I've got this, I can get into it" he said holding the sonic pen up to them, grinning before working on the machine. They didn't know that at the same time the Matron has opened the panel in her office, putting it to work.

"She's wired up the whole building," he pointed to the loads of cables before pulling one out with a sharp tug. "We need a bit of privacy," he snapped it in two and held the wires opposite each other, electrocuting the guards outside. "Just enough to stop them"

"Why has she wired up a tower block? What's it all for?" the Doctor asked in wonder. He yanked out some more cable and gave them for Donna to hold while he started sonicing the ends of it before putting them back in place. While Alice leaned against the wall observing.

"You look older," Alice heard Donna imply to the Doctor who was still doing the same thing with the cables. She didn't mean to eavesdrop, but she did anyway. Alice noticed what her sister meant, that he looked tired, yet somehow felt his eyes looked impossibly old for a man his age whatever it was.

"Thanks," he replied trying not to sound offended.

"Still on your own?" Donna now asked him. 'Did that mean he was a traveller?' Alice questioned in thought.

"Yeah," he replied, nearly lying at first before telling the truth. "Well, no. I had this friend. Martha she was called. Martha Jones. She was brilliant. And I destroyed half her life," he went on, being honest about the woman he travelled with.

"But she's fine, she's good. She's gone," he continued on a sort of happy tone, meaning she had moved on with her life and made a better one for herself.

"What about Rose?" Alice heard Donna ask about another girl. "Still lost," he replied mournfully like she died or part of her died with him. It also sounded like to her he used to be our was in love with this girl.

"I thought you wanted to travel the world," he implied remembering the last thing he said to her.

"Easier said than done," she sighed. "It's like I had that one day with you, and I was going to change. I was going to do so much," Donna told him about the day she met him. "Then I woke up the next morning... Same old life," Donna sighed sadly about the day when everything returned to normality. Alice now knew that was when her sister's life went downhill after that day. "It's like you were never there."

"And I tried... I did try," Donna told him as if he was something special, but Alice didn't know if she could see it.

"Yes Donna, more like we made you try. At least that Egypt trip did you some good," Alice interrupted, pointing out that it was her and their mother that gave her that much needed push to get out of the slump she'd been in.

"Yeah, I went Eygpt. I was going to go barefoot and everything. And then it's all bus trips and guidebooks and 'Don't drink the water' and two weeks later you're back at home," Donna told him about her trip. "It's nothing like being with you" she confessed to him. "I must of been mad turning down that offer," she reminded him of his offer, making Alice look up in attention as she had been looking at red painted nails.

"What offer?" the Doctor asked Donna, wanting a reminder.

"To come with you," she told him.

"Come with me?" the Doctor asked while turning to her, sounding sort of confused and happy.

"Oh, yes please!" she replied, but Alice saw that the Doctor was now talking about the question, but Donna must have heard it another way.

"Right," he dragged out a little unsure himself what was going on, while Alice looked at Donna like she'd gone loopy again.

"Inducer activated," the computer announced making them all look to the alien machine.

"What's it doing now?" Donna asked.

"She's starting the programme," the Doctor replied Donna in a panicked way.

"I've got a bad feeling about all this," Alice said with worry. What Donna and Alice didn't know was that meanwhile the Adipose were starting to take effect on the people who using the pills and Donna's and Alice's mother was witnessing it at this very moment.

"So far they're just losing weight, but the Matron's gone up to emergency parthenogenesis," The Doctor continued to go on while trying to stop the program.

"And that's when they convert..." Donna started to understand.

"Skeletons, organs, everything. A million people are going to die," he implied madly making Alice worry. What this alien woman was doing was wrong on so many levels and she could tell how desperate the Doctor was to save these people from certain death. "I've got to cancel the signal," he said, getting the pendant that was issued by the company out of his jacket. "This contains the primary signal. If I can switch it off, the fat goes back to being just fat," unscrewing it and taking out a small metal like coil he attached it to one of the wires he'd been modifying.

"Inducer increasing," the machine announced, meaning that whatever the Doctor tried to do, the Matron seemed to have bunked it up another notch.

"No, no, no! She's doubled it! I need..." he started to get frantic, unsure what he needs to do to stop it. "I haven't got time. It's too far. I can't override it" he went still for a moment as he was unsure what to do. If he didn't do something soon, it would be too late. "They're all going to die!"

"Is there anything I can do?" Alice asked, seeing if she could offer any help to the panicking Doctor.

"Sorry, Alice, this is way beyond you," he assured her as he moved the dials on the machine. "I've got to double the base pulse. I can't..." he went on as he put his hands up in frustration.

"Doctor, tell me, what do you need?" Donna then asked, now offering her help seeing that her sister already tried.

"I need a second capsule to boost the override, but I've only got the one. I can't save them," he told Donna, who then patted her pockets for the pendant.

"Oh, God I must of left it in my bag," she whispered to Alice in frustration.

"Hang on," Alice searched at the back of her neck for the clasp of the pendant that was right above the one for her locket that she always loved to wear. Unclasping the pendant she held it out dangling it in front of Donna as they both smiled.

"When did you get that?" Donna quickly asked in a whisper.

"When I started work everyone was issued one," she told her sister. Alice tapped the Doctor on the shoulder to get his attention. "This what you're looking for?" she asked as he saw the pendant hanging from her hand, both her and Donna looking at him with a smug looks on their faces, making the Doctor grin at them proudly and gasp in delight. He grabbed hold of it quickly, unscrewing it and attaching it to a wire shutting the machine down entirely.

-Doctor Who-

They all felt a tremor underneath their feet and the sound of a loud electrical humming that seemed to be coming from outside. "What the hell was that?" Donna asked as Alice clung onto her in fright. The sisters had no idea that a spaceship has entered the atmosphere and that their granddad was none the wiser about what was going on.

"It's the nursery," the Doctor informed her.

"Wait a minute," Donna implied while wondering what it is.

Alice also eagerly wanted to know the same thing, "When you say 'nursery', you don't mean a crèche in Notting Hill?"

"Nursery ship," he told them.

Suddenly the machine that was shut off by the Doctor moments ago came back on again, surprising the Doctor with the sound it just made. "Incoming signal" the machine announced meaning it was receiving a message that starts coming through in a language neither of the sister's understood, but the Doctor did.

"Hadn't we better go and stop them?" Alice asked, wondering if they shouldn't go before the aliens would get away.

"Hold on, hold on," the Doctor told her politely so he could listen to the language coming from the machine. "Instructions from the Adiposian First Family," he told them both.

"She's wired the tower block to convert it into a levitation post...Ooh!" he concluded what the Matron has done to the tower block. Before he could finish he heard something that the Adiposians were saying. "Oh! We're not the ones in trouble now," he realised that what they were saying was not sounding good at all. "She is!" It sounded like it was bad for the Matron so they all charged out of the cupboard, hoping to save her in time.

As they got to the roof of the building they hurried over to the end of it and saw many levitation beams before them with all the little fat-made child aliens floating up into the spaceship. Alice couldn't believe what she saw and was distracted from the fact that she was on a tall building. "Wow" she whispered as she was shocked but also amazed at the sight.

"What are you going to do then? Blow 'em up?" Donna then asked if he was going to hurt them or not.

"They're just children. They can't help where they come from," he said while he was putting his glasses away. His answer made perfect sense to Alice because he didn't seem to be the kind of alien that would harm children. His answer showed her what a caring being he really is.

"Oh, that makes a change from last time," Donna said to him as if was different the last time she met him. "That Martha must of have done you good," she then mentioned the girl he was with.

"Yeah, she did. Yeah. Yeah," he answered while nodding his head. "She did. She fancied me," he added before Alice and Donna looked at each other and decided to play a little word game about the woman for having a crush on the Doctor.

"Mad Martha, that one," Donna started off.

"Blind Martha," Alice then said.

"Charity Martha," Donna finished before she looked back to the fat floating up the beams. One of the fat-made aliens waved at them, making Donna, Alice and the Doctor wave back in amusement. "I'm waving at fat," Donna implied, but Alice thought that they were cute, as if though the fact that they were made from fat didn't nauseate her any more.

"Actually, as a diet plan, it sort of works," the Doctor said matter of factly as they kept watching before the Matron came into their vision. "There she is!" the Doctor called as they rushed over to her. "Matron Cofelia, listen to me," he called out for her to listen to him so he could explain her what he heard about the instructions from the Adiposians.

"No, I don't think so, Doctor. And if I ever see you again, it'll be too soon," she insisted, not wanting to hear what he had to say.

"Why does no one ever listen?" he asked the sisters but they shrugged their shoulders.

"I'm trying to help! Just get across to the roof," he instructed what to do. "Can you shift the levitation beam?" he asked of her.

"What, so that you can arrest me?" the Matron asked back, thinking he's bluffing.

"Just listen. I heard the Adiposian instructions. They know it's a crime breeding on Earth, so what's the one thing they want to get rid of?" he asked rhetorically. "Their accomplice," he explained to her.

"I'm far more than that. I'm nanny to all these children" she answered as she thought more highly of herself.

"Exactly. Mum and Dad have got the kids now. They don't need the nanny anymore," he answered honestly just before the beam cut out. The Matron looked at them in shock before she fell to her death, screaming and finally hitting the pavement. The two women pulled closer to the Doctor's side so they wouldn't have to see it. They looked up and saw the spaceship was already full with the children, and it went shooting off into space while Alice went looking on in wonder.

Now wondering outside from the office block the Doctor walked along looking at the sonic pen in his hand. He noticed a bin nearby and tossed it in just as Alice and Donna came up beside him.

"Oi! You three!" the reporter Penny shouted, getting their attention while apparently being tied to a chair once again. "You're just mad! Do you hear me? Mad! And I'm going to report you for..." she went on to them angrily while trying to think what she could report them with. "Madness!" she finally said, making Alice snicker at the woman as she struggled down the stairs still tied to the chair.

"Some people just can't take it," Donna sighed while looking on at the young woman.

"No," the Doctor agreed and Alice nodded her head

"And some people can," Donna said getting more upbeat. "So then, TARDIS. Come on!" she said excitedly and grabbed his arm, pulling him along in a run. While Alice stood there for a bit, contemplating about putting her sister in a mental home.

"Don, what are you on about!?" she called out. "Don, Donna!" she called out as she chased after the Doctor and her sister.

She comes to a complete halt in the alley way where the car is parked. Not really taking much notice of what her sister was saying at this moment. Because standing there before her was an 1930's Police Box. Not being able to concentrate on anything else, Alice admired it's historical beauty.

"And I've been ready for this. I packed ages ago just in case," she heard Donna go on, coming back to reality on what her sister was saying about getting ready for a trip.

"So that's why you haven't been letting mum use the car," Alice voiced surprisingly, while looking at all the bags in the boot.

"Cause I thought, 'Hot weather. Cold weather. No weather. He goes anywhere. I've got to be prepared'," Donna told the Doctor while handing some bags to him. Once again Alice looked at her sister like she was crazy again. Where was her sister really planning on going with him?

"You've got a...A hatbox," The Doctor pointed to the item Donna had placed on top of the other bags.

"Planet of the hats, I'm ready!" Donna shouted in excitement, reminding Alice how much Donna loved them.

About five minutes later Donna was still rambling on. While Alice looked on in amazement through the open door of the Police Box. Inside it she saw a large room and thought her mind was playing a tricks on her.

"You're not saying much," Donna said as she noticed that the Doctor hadn't said a word. He simply looked emotionless.

"No, it's just. It's a funny old life, in the TARDIS," he told her in a way that wouldn't upset her.

"You don't want me," Donna answered sadly.

"I'm not saying that," he implied.

"But you asked me," she pointed out sadly. "Would you rather be on your own?" she asked, making sure how he felt about her going.

"No. Actually, no," he told her honestly, dropping the bags to the floor gently. "But..." he started to say. "The last time, with Martha, like I said, it..." he tried to put in a gentle way about the last person that travelled with him. "It got complicated. And that was all my fault. I..." he finally decided to say what he felt. "I just want a mate," But Donna didn't hear it properly which made her take it the wrong way.

"You just want to mate!" she shouted back in an offended way.

"I just want 'a' mate," he said it out more clearly to her.

"You're not mating with me, sunshine!" Alice shook her head and snickered silently at her sister's misinterpretation.

"'A' mate. I want 'a' mate," he went out in annoyance, trying to get it through to her.

"Don I think that he's trying to say that he wants a friend, not a lover," Alice said lightly, playfully whacking her sisters shoulder to knock some sense into her.

"Well, just as well, because I'm not having any of that nonsense I mean, you're just a long streak of nothing. You know, alien nothing," Donna said stepping out of the ship pointing out how skinny he was.

"There we are then. Okay," the Doctor agreed with her about it.

"I can come?" she asked while trying to make sure if this time she was really going.

"Yeah. Of course you can, yeah," he replied being straight forward, nodding his head lightly. Now the situation of the 'mate' thing was out the way. "I'd love it," he added with a grin which made Donna whoop in happiness before rushing over about to hug him.

"That's just..."

"Car keys Donna, mum's going to need those," Alice pointed out to Donna.

"Car keys," she repeated what Alice told her, holding them in front of the Doctor.

"What?" the Doctor asked while sounding confused to what they were talking about.

"I've still got my mum's car keys. Won't be a minute," she told him before marching past the Doctor and her sister, leaving them both in an awkward silence before he picked up some of the bags putting them inside the doorway.

"So, you had a strange night?" he asked Alice casually, picking up the last of the bags.

"You could say that, yeah. Weirdest night of my life, really," she sighed somewhat happily, folding her arms across her chest and leaning against the car. While he finished putting the bags inside.

"Got any plans?" he asked out of interest, implying she didn't have a job anymore.

"I don't know. I was only going to stay in the job I had until I went back to University next year. Now I don't know what to do," she replied sadly, with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Come, I'll show you the inside if you want. Saw you peaking earlier," the Doctor said knowing that Alice had viewed the inside from afar earlier. Stepping aside and he letting her through before him, closing the door behind them. He walked past her as she stood there glued to the spot on the ramp, scanning the magnificently large space with her brown orbs, looking from the coral beams to the circular console stood in the centre of the room, it was full odd contraptions and gizmos it surrounding a tube of glass illuminated by turquoise light.

"I looked at it from the outside but... this is it's..." she spoke in excitement at a complete loss for words until it came to her, "it's beautiful."

"Welcome to the TARDIS. It stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space," he explained to her.

"It really travels in time as well as space?" she asked rather amazed at what the space ship could do.

"Anywhere, anytime," he replied truthfully, leaning against the console and smiling at the thought of another person's discovery of the TARDIS. But to the Time Lord's surprise, she took it rather well.

"So, staying?" he asked, feeling rather hopeful that Alice would stay to keep her big sister company.

"Oh, definitely," she replied, turning around and looking back to him with a smile.

Not long after that Donna came back discovering her sister was coming with her. The Doctor couldn't have known that on her way back she had seen Rose, a long-lost friend of the Doctor's. Donna was happy that the Noble sisters were going to be travelling to the stars together. But for Alice there would be a life changing surprise in store. One which she did not expect to discover about herself.


	2. The Fires of Pompeii

**The Fires of Pompeii**

 ** _Disclaimer: Alice Noble belongs to me and the rest BBC_**

It was after that the Doctor had gained his new companions and friends in the form of Donna Noble and her younger sister Alice after their little adventure together at Adipose Industries. He thought he would give them their first trip into the past.

"Ancient Rome!" he introduces to them holding the cloth back for both of them to see history, right before their eyes. Alice found it awfully fascinating. As they followed him out on to the Roman street, "Well not to them, obviously. For all intents and purposes, this is, the brand-new Rome," he points out indicating it must be the early days of the empire as they start walking on.

"Oh, my God! It's so..." she thinks happily before looking to Alice for a word to describe where they were.

"Roman," she gives to her older sister.

"Yes, it's so Roman!" Donna turns in a daze to the Doctor and Alice looking on at her as she did so.

"I think this is amazing!" Alice voiced her opinion happily and without thinking hugs the Doctor in thanks making him laugh awkwardly about it, "Sorry," she apologises.

"Don't mention it," he tells her with a small smile. While Donna looked on at her sister, who was now blushing with embarrassment.

"We're in Rome, the Noble's are in Rome!" she says happily to Alice both giving each, a silly smile. "This is weird! I mean, everybody here's dead," Donna pointed out stating the obvious. That these people weren't alive any more.

"Well, don't tell them that," The Doctor warned her.

"Hang on a minute. That sign over there is in English," the younger Noble points out to the oddity, the sign on the wheel barrow making Donna notice as well.

"Are you having us on?" Are we in Epcot?" Donna asked moodily that he's probably sent them to a theme park instead of Rome.

"No, no, no, that's the TARDIS translation circuits. Just makes it look like English," he explains to them both. "Speech as well. We're talking Latin right now," he points out.

"Seriously?" Alice asks a little impressed. "I can't believe I just said 'seriously' in Latin!" she tells them both, excited by the fact they were speaking a different language.

"Well, yeah," he pointed out to her nodding his head making both the women giggle.

"What if I said something in actual Latin?" Donna pondered out loud. "Like 'veni, vidi, vici.' My dad said that when he came back from football," she recalled something her father used to say, "If I said, 'Veni, vidi, vici,' to that lot, what would it sound like?" she asked wondering if she should give it go.

"I'm not sure. You always have to think of difficult questions, don't you?" The Doctor replies, then thinking back to her questions too while Alice looks on.

"I'm going to try it!" she tells them both going over to the man.

"Is your sister always been... This chatty?" The Doctor asks Alice out of general interest.

"Yeah she's always been like that since I can remember, never lets anyone have a word in edgeways. She can talk until the cows come home," she replies to him in honesty.

"Me no speak Celtic. No can do, missy," The tradesman says back to Donna in a loud slow tone making the Doctor and her sister notice, that her trying to say the Latin words while still speaking it already was a bit of a fail.

"What's he mean, Celtic?" she asks confused, coming back over to the Doctor and Alice.

"Welsh. You sound Welsh," he says to her, looking over to her sister who shrugged her shoulders, unsure on what to say. "Well, there we go. Learn something new everyday," he tells her, speaking in a language while already speaking the language sounds, just plain weird.

"There's another thing, doesn't our modern clothes look a bit odd?" Alice questions to The Doctor.

"Nah! Ancient Rome, anything goes. It's like Soho, but bigger," he replied to her in a carefree tone. He knows the city pretty well, if he did say so himself.

"Have you been here before, then?" Donna asks him out of curiosity.

"Mmm, ages ago. Before you ask, that fire had nothing to do with me," he tells her in a somewhat honest manner. "Well,maybe a little bit. But I never got the chance to look around properly," he goes on.

"Colosseum, Pantheon, Circus Maximus..." he lists out the places he wished to see while he was here, but then wonders why they haven't seen them yet. Alice also thought that if they were in Rome these places would have come to their attention. "You'd expect them to be looming by now," he says as they walk thorough the arches to another street.

"Where is everything?" he asks looking for the things he knew were here. "Try this way," he says to the two.

"If I'm not mistaken and if you don't mind me asking. If you say we're in Rome, where are the seven hills, how come there's only one?" Alice asks the Doctor noticing the strange thing about it not being the proper amount of hills in view.

After she spoke the ground began to shake as the mountain begins to smoke.

"Wait a minute. One mountain, with smoke, which makes this..." Donna starts to recall about where they are making Alice finish it for her.

"Pompeii," Alice says rather scared while her locket warmed against her skin. Also holding on to her older sister knowing that these people in this place would be killed. The Doctor looks at her oddly like the time before in the office in Adipose Industries.

"We're in Pompeii. And it's volcano day!" The Doctor says in panic realising where they stood and he knew he had to get Alice and Donna away from this place for their own safety.

 **-Doctor Who-**

Alice, Donna and the Doctor rush back in a hurry through the streets to get to the TARDIS. But there would be a surprise in wait for them when they got there.

"You're kidding." the young Noble sighs in disbelief looking on at the spot where the time machine was last.

"Don't tell me the TARDIS has gone," Donna inputs into the conversation.

"Okay," he says, not sure on what to do, or tell the sister's.

"Where is it then?" Alice asks to The Doctor on where he could have possibly put the time machine.

"You told me not to tell you," he responds in return to her question.

"Hey! Don't get clever in Latin," she says back annoyed while giving him a glare. He goes back out onto the street, seeing if he could find somebody to help him figure out where the ship had disappeared to. He spots the man who Donna spoke to earlier.

"Excuse me, excuse me!" he calls out to the man getting his attention, while the two sisters follow behind. "There was a box, a big, blue box," he starts describing it to him. "A big, blue, wooden box just over there," he goes on pointing out to where the ship was before.

"Where has it gone?" he asks the man in a hurry, wanting to know where he could find it, and to say Alice had a bad feeling was probably a big understatement.

"Sold it, didn't I?"

"But it wasn't yours to sell!" The Time Lord exclaimed in complaint.

"It was on my patch, wasn't it? I got 15 ses 30 for it. It was a most fantastic offer!" the man then tells him about it being on his property, before telling him how much he got for it rubbing his hands together in glee.

"Who'd you sell it to?" he then asks, eagerly wanting to know where it has been taken to.

"Old Caecilius," he tells The Doctor. "Look, if you want to argue, why don't you take it up with him? He's on Foss street. Big fellow, can't miss him," the man suggests.

"Thanks!" The Doctor calls out in elation to the man, before they all start to leave. suddenly he stops and goes back to ask the man in about why he got the box. "What did he buy a big, blue, wooden box for?"

After being dragged along by her sister to the amphitheatre saying this would be a good place to bring the people of Pompeii to warn them. Alice kept telling her she was mad that this was a part of history that needed to run its course. Of course it went in one ear and out the other with her, and now they were waiting for the Doctor while he found out where Foss Street was.

"He's not going like this, once you mention this crazy idea of yours to him," Alice shakes her head moodily to her older sister, crossing her arms as they get back to where The Doctor told them to meet him.

"Let's just see what he says alright," Donna tells her sister hoping he would like the idea she had in mind.

"I'm just saying he's not going to like it," Alice says knowingly in a sing-song voice. He just won't like Donna's idea.

"I've got it. Foss Street, this way!" he calls to them going down the steps in a hurry and grabbing the sisters hands.

"No!" she calls out to stop him dragging her away in the direction he wants to take them.

"Oh, here comes the crazy talk," Alice mutters in annoyance under her breath rolling her eyes at her big sister who then starts to speak her plan to the Doctor.

"I found this big amphitheatre thing. We can start there, we could gather everyone together" And she was right, she could see it all over the Doctor's face, that her sister was being absolutely mental at what she was starting to suggest. "They maybe have a great, big, bell or something we could ring."

"Have they invented bells yet?" she asks looking at her sister and then the Doctor who still think she's mad.

"What do you want a bell for?" he asks his voice ladled with disbelief, shocked and confused at what Donna was suggesting.

"What time does Vesuvius erupt?" She asks wanting to know the exact time and date the volcano will explode. Alice being Alice obviously knew when it was due as Donna sometimes used to call her a walking encyclopaedia.

"It's 79 AD, 23rd of August," Alice replies before the Doctor could. As he gave her that look once again. The more this time she saw it like she knew he was going to say the exact same thing. But they both brushed it off as a coincidence, while the locket warmed against her skin once again.

"Alice, is right which makes volcano day tomorrow," he tells the older Noble.

"Plenty of time. We'll get everyone out easy!" Donna, enthusiastic that she could save all these people.

"Yeah, except we're not going to," he tells her simply pulling her again for her to come with him. But she stops him.

"But that's what you do. You're The Doctor, you save people," she points out that it should be his duty to help these people.

"Not this time. Pompeii is a fixed point in time. What happens, happens. There is no stopping it," he once again tries to explain that nothing can be changed because it was always meant to and will always happen, and Alice agrees with him. He was glad someone was on his side for once.

"I think The Doctor is right Donna, its history, you can't change it because you feel like it,"

"Says who?" she asks not only Alice but to the Doctor as they try to leave but was stopped again.

"Says me," he replies back bluntly knowing what's right.

"What, who put you in charge?" Donna then asks thinking that he will never be the boss of her.

"TARDIS, Time Lord, yeah," he starts to argue back in reply.

"Donna, human, and no. I don't need your permission, I'll tell them myself," she argues back like a child while Alice shakes her head at her sister's childish tendencies for a women her age.

"If you stand in the marketplace announcing the end of the world, they'll think you're a mad old soothsayer," he argues back trying to make his point get through to her. "Now, come on! TARDIS. We are getting out of here!" The Doctor instructs her to do as he says before he leaves along with Alice behind him.

"Well, I might just have something to say about that, spaceman!" Donna shouts back disagreeing with him as he now jogs up the steps. "Oh, I bet you will!" The Doctor shouts back in reply before disappearing around the corner.

"Believe me she always has to have the last word," Alice tells him as a matter of fact.

 **-Doctor Who-**

They soon arrive at the home of Caecilius when another earthquake rumbles the ground and just in time for The Doctor to stop the stone bust falling onto the floor. "There we go" he informs the man with a smile.

"Thank you, kind sir," the man thankful for him saving the bust. "I'm afraid business is closed for the day. I'm expecting a visitor,"the man conveyed the unfortunate situation.

"Well, that's me, I'm a visitor" the Doctor points out . "Hello!" he shakes the man's hand rather enthusiastically before looking around into the home a bit more.

"Who are you?" the man asks wanting to know why this odd man was in his house. "I am Spartacus" he thinks up on the spot.

"Really that's the best you could come up with," Alice mutters in disappointment while receiving a nudge in nudge in the ribs from The Doctor needing her to play along.

"I'm Spartacus also," Alice politely introduced herself with a put on smile.

"And so am I," Donna inputs as well.

"Mr and Mrs Spartacus and daughter?" the man asks implying the trio are a family making the youngest of the three raise her eyebrows in shock.

"Oh, no, no, no. We're not married and she certainly isn't our daughter," The Doctor states awkwardly.

"Them two together, not a chance," Alice scoffs gesturing to them both.

"Oh, so a brother and his sisters? Yes, of course!" he apologises now guessing them as siblings. "You all look very much alike" he then points out, but none of them could see it.

"Really?" they say looking at each other then back to the man.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not open for trading," he informs them once again.

"And that trade would be...?" The Doctor then starts to ask.

"Marble," he replies before then continuing to introduce himself.

"Lobus Caecilius, mining, polishing and design thereof. If you want marble, I'm your man,"

"That's good 'cause I'm the marble inspector," he says now getting out a wallet flashing it to the man before putting it back in his long coat before Alice could see.

"By the gods of commerce, an inspection!" the woman behind them complains, meaning she was the man's wife. "I'm sorry, sir, I do apologise for my son," she then grabs the alcohol out of the young man's hands tipping it into the pond making him complain.

"This is my good wife Metella," he introduces to them. "I must confess, we're not prepared for..." Caecilius apologises hoping the supposed inspector didn't find anything wrong, or the TARDIS.

"Nothing to worry about, I'm sure you've got nothing to hide," he makes sure the man doesn't worry before he spots the all to familiar blue box in the corner of the room. "Although, frankly, that object looks rather like wood to me."

"I only brought it today!" Caecilius rushes over.

"Ah, well. Caveat emptor," The Doctor tells him saying the last part in Latin. "Oh, you're Celtic" Caecilius notices. "Celtic is a beautiful place," Caecilius implies hoping to gain some favour.

About now Alice could see a rebellious twinkle in her big sisters eyes, knowing she was about to say something that would annoy The Doctor immensely. "I'm sure it's fine, but I might have to take it off your hands for a proper inspection." he then informs Caecilius, but he never would know that the doctor would never return it.

"Although while we're here, wouldn't you recommend a holiday, Spartacus?" Donna then suggests to the Doctor making Alice roll her eyes at her sister.

"Don't know what you mean, Spartacus," he feigns ignorance.

"Well this lovely family, mother and father and son, don't you think they should get out of town?" she then continues to imply but obviously making no progress.

"Why should we do that?" Caecilius asks wanting to know what Donna was implying.

"Yes Donna why should they?" Alice asks her sister with a knowing glare hoping she would stop it .

"The volcano for starters," she mentions to them as soon as she says it Alice's mouth drops open at the idiocy of her sister.

"I can't believe she just said that," she whispers to the Doctor so only he could hear.

"I can't either," he agrees back a whisper.

"What?" the marble tradesman asks in confusion while Alice pinches the bridge of her nose in frustration, shaking her head.

"The volcano," she tries to get them to see. "The what-ano?" Lobus asks still not sure what she's getting at.

"The big volcano on your doorstep," Donna mentions once more before the younger Noble and the Doctor look at each other with a knowing stare thinking the same thing before grabbing her by the arms and dragging her away.

"Forgive us, Caecilius our sister is not well" Alice inputs with a fake sadness Donna glaring at her in the process.

"Oh, for shame! We haven't even greeted the household gods yet," as they now both steer her over to the shrine. "They don't know what it is yet. Vesuvius is just a mountain to them. The top hasn't blown off yet," The Doctor informs her, as he dips his fingers in the water before flicking it on the gods.

"Oh, great. They can learn a new word. As they die," she says back to him with a sarcastic joy.

"Donna, stop it," he tells her seriously.

"Please just stop it Donna," Alice firmly tells her big sister off.

"I don't know what sort of kids you been flying around with in outer space, but your not telling me to shut up either of you," she replies in defiance to them both. "That boy, how old is he, 16?" Donna gestures to the boy behind them, "And tomorrow he burns to death," she implies sadly.

"And that's my fault?" he asks thinking that he's to blame for what is happening.

"Right now, yes," she gives him a blunt reply .

"Announcing Lucius Petrus Dextrus, chief augur of the city government," one of the servants calls on an arrival of a guest in the house making the three-time travellers turn round to see the arrival of the man. But looking at him suddenly made Alice's head hurt she didn't know why but the man seemed so emotionless to her like a statue.

"Lucius! My pleasure, as always," Caecilius welcomes him as he walks over to him.

"Quintus, stand up," his wife tells their son to get up seeing as they were in company of someone of importance.

"A rare and great honour, sir, for you to come to my house" Caecilius thanks Lucius for gracing his presence in his home.

"The birds are flying north and the wind is in the west" Lucius speaks but it seemed a riddle to most in the room.

"Right, absolutely. That's good, is it?" the other man somewhat agrees before asking if it was something good.

"Only the grain of wheat knows where it will grow."

"There now, Matella, have you ever heard of such wisdom?" Caecilius asks his wife. "I think it's a load of gibberish and nonsense if you ask me" Alice implies silently to Donna and the Doctor who but only her sister nods her head agreeing with her.

"Never. It's an honour," she agrees greeting him politely.

"Pardon me, sir, I have guests. This is Spartacus and his two sisters," he apologises introducing the three, that were still by the shrine.

"A name is but a cloud upon a summer wind," the wise man points out with another riddle.

"But the wind is felt most keenly in the dark," The Doctor says back in riddle.

"Dark!" the man implies approaching him. "But what is the dark other than an omen of the sun?" he asks also in riddle, the two sisters not making a bit of sense out of it.

"I concede that every sun must set," the man laughs at the Doctor before he goes on.

"And yet the son of the father must also rise," he then gestures to Quintus.

"Damn. Very clever, sir. Evidently a man of learning," The augar tells him, rather impressed .

"Oh yes, but don't mind me. Don't want to disturb the status quo," he tells the man. "We'll be off in a minute," he then mentions while Caecilius whispered something about the three of them being Celtic to Lucius.

"I'm not going," Donna pleaded silently as the Doctor guides her away over to the Tardis.

"You've got to" he tells her solemnly. She needs to move on.

"Well, I'm not," she continues to complain adamantly.

"You are and were going now come on you big baby," Alice tells her sister getting her to move over to the ship with the Doctor's help.

"The moment of revelation," Caeclilius unveils the piece of marble. "And here it is..." getting even closer to the ship the Doctor looks over his shoulder seeing the odd-looking design that was somewhat familiar. "Exactly as you specified. Does It please you, sir?" Caecilius asks hoping he had done a good job.

"As the rain pleases the soil," the meaning of Lucius's riddle means he's very happy with the work before him.

"Oh now that's... different. Who designed that then?" The Doctor comes over to have closer look now, curiosity getting the better of him as the two women follow behind him.

"My lord Lucius was very specific," Caecilius tells him in reply.

"Where'd you get the pattern?" The Doctor asks wondering how Lucius came up with such a design.

"On the mist and wind," he simply replies in riddle as per usual to Alice's annoyance.

"Well that looks like a circuit," Donna points out clearly seeing what it was.

"Made of stone," the younger Noble points out, the Doctor gave her that look again from earlier like she knew he was going to say it now. He was finding it very odd indeed.

"Do you mean you dreamt it up?" the older Noble questions.

"That's my job...as City Augur," he tells her in reply.

"What's that then, like the mayor?" she asks out of general curiosity not quite sure what it is.

"Oh, ah, you must excuse my friend. She's from...Barcelona," he makes up an excuse to explain about her not knowing what it is before pulling the woman aside.

"This is the age of superstition...of official superstition. The augur is paid by the city to tell the future. 'The wind will blow from the west.' That's the equivalent of the 10 o'clock news" he explains it to both of the women.

A young teenage girl enters the room. Somehow the girl doesn't look right to Alice she is pale and weak, barely able to keep herself on her feet. "They're laughing at us. Those three, they use words like tricksters. They are mocking us," the girl implies the three other visitors are making fun of her.

"No, no. I meant no offence," the Doctor apologises if he were rude whatever was said.

"I'm sorry. My daughter's been consuming the vapours," Metealla Caecilius wife apologises for her daughter.

"By the gods, Mother! What have you been doing to her," her son asks in outrage at the state of his sister.

"Not now, Quintus," Caecilius tells his son.

"But she's sick. Just look at her," he points out in concern, but nobody seems to care so he gives up.

"I gather I have a rival in this household. Another with a gift," he assumes of it being the girl before him.

"Oh, she's been promised to the Sybiline Sisterhood. They say she has remarkable visions," Metella confirms proudly of her daughters gift.

"The prophecies of women are limited and dull. Only the men folk have the capacity for true perception," Lucius implies arrogantly.

"I'll tell you where the wind's blowing right now, mate," Donna mocks in offence to Lucius before the ground rumbles once again.

"The mountain god marks your words. I would be careful if I were you," Lucius tells Donna .

"Consuming the vapours, you say?" The Doctor asks the girl wonderingly.

"They give me strength," she replies weak with honesty.

"It doesn't look like it to me," he points out while Alice and Donna still noticing how ill these vapours made her look.

"Is that your opinion as a doctor?" she asks knowingly somehow trying to figure him out.

"I beg your pardon?" he asks her to make sure that it wasn't something he misread while Alice and Donna look on a little shocked.

"Doctor, that's your name," implies to him if she's right our not.

"How did you know that?" The Doctor asks.

"And you both call yourselves 'noble'" She doesn't reply to his question but goes on to figure out the two women in the room.

"Now then, Evelina, don't be rude," Metella tells her daughter to calm herself.

"No, no, not at all," The Doctor brushes off saying it's not really bothering him.

"You all come from so far away," the girl Evelina states to the three-time travellers.

"A female soothsayer is inclined to invent all sorts of vagaries," Lucius implies, women in this profession tend to make it up as they go.

"Oh, not this time, Lucius I reckon you've been out-soothsayed," The Doctor disagrees with him.

"Is that so?" he asks. "Man from Gallifrey," he deduces getting the Doctor's home planet spot on, the last word made Alice's locket heat unpleasantly against her skin and made her head start to throb. She knew he was an alien but never asked where he was from yet the name of the planet seemed so familiar.

"What?" he the Doctor asks surprised to what he just had heard.

"The strangest of images. Your home is lost in fire, is it not?" he asks the Doctor if he's right about his home. Alice's head starts to hurt even more than before making her gasp at the stabs of pain, she shut her eyes seeing flashes of the most terrible things, she can't recall if they are real or not.

"Alice?" Donna asks now seeing the pain on her sisters face and going over to her. "Are you all right you look pale?" she asks with worry, rubbing her back. But Alice doesn't seem to hear or notice anything as her locket started getting hotter by the second.

"Doctor, what are they doing?" The older Noble asks still rubbing Alice's back in worry for her sister, while also wondering what the man and girl are up to.

"And you, daughters of-London," he then says guessing where Donna was from leaving her shocked.

"How does he know that?" she asks trying to get The Doctor's attention who was still in shock and still hadn't recovered, at the moment Alice was now leaning on her for support not being able to stand much, now she's dizzy. Donna keeping a firm grip on her.

"This is the gift of Pompeii. Every single oracle tells the truth," Lucius confirms to her it's a gift from the city itself producing these truth tellers.

"That's impossible," she says back in disbelief trying not to consider a word he says is true.

"Doctor, she is returning," Lucius then informs The Doctor about somebody is returning to him.

"Who is? Who's. 'She'?" he asks confused unsure to what he's trying to be told.

"And you daughter of London, there is something on your back," the augar points out but it doesn't make any sense to her.

"What does that mean?" she asks The Doctor wanting to understand.

"Even the word 'Doctor' is false. Your real name is hidden," Evelina implies to him. "It burns in the stars, in the cascade of Medusa herself. You are a lord, sir. A lord of time," she goes on to say before then passing out in front of the Doctor while Alice collapses against Donna from the sheer amount pain from the images playing on re-runs through her head.

 **-Doctor Who-**

The last thing Alice remembered was the pain in her head before she passed out. The things she'd seen didn't make any sense to her. Like seeing an unfamiliar city in flames, or on an orange planet with lasers shooting and people screaming. It was like she was being told something, but what? Then she remembers the antique locket that was given to her on her eighteenth, by her parents. It had gotten incredibly hot against her skin that it would leave a burn there, but it hadn't which was strange. Maybe she could ask the Doctor.

"Look who's awake, I was beginning to worry about you," The Doctor tells the young woman, now that she'd woke up and sat on the edge of the lounge by the hypocaust as the Doctor helped Alice off so she could get steady on her feet

"What happened, the last thing I remem ..." Alice starts to recall before gasping getting a flash of the orange city in flames.

"Alice, Alice what's wrong?" The Doctor calls to her trying to shake the young woman from the trance, trying to get her to look him in the eyes.

"Nothings wrong I'm fine," Alice says, not really wanting to talk to him about it right now, as now wasn't a good time to distract him.

"Different sort of hypocaust" The Doctor says to Caecilius half an hour later after taking the grating off, while Alice stood by the Doctor as he looked into it.

"Oh, yes, we're very advanced in Pompeii. In Rome, they're still using the old wood burning furnaces, but we've got hot springs heated from Vesuvius itself," the man explained.

"Who thought of that?" the time traveller asks wonderingly, wanting to find out who came up with the idea.

"The soothsayers. After the great earthquake 17 years ago," Caecilius divulges. "An awful lot of damage. But we rebuilt" he goes on to tell the Doctor.

"Didn't you think of moving away?" The Doctor then asks, saying something random to change the subject, made Alice look at him rather oddly, "Oh, no then again, San Francisco."

"That's a restaurant in Naples, isn't it?" Caecilius asks wondering if he might know the place.

"What's that noise?" Alice asked nodding her head at the open hypocaust the Doctor was looking down, while he pulls a face in annoyance that she said something before him yet again, it was now beyond superstitious, like she was reading his mind.

"Don't know, happens all the time. They say the gods of the underworld are stirring," he tells the young woman.

"But after the earthquake. Let me guess, is that when the soothsayers started making sense?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, yes, very much so. I mean, they had always been, shall we say, imprecise," Caecilius replies. "But then, the soothsayers, the augurs, the haruspices, all of them, they saw the truth again and again. It's quite amazing."

"They can predict crops and rainfall with absolute precision," and Alice thought; nobody could be that good at guessing the weather of all things.

"Have they said anything about tomorrow?" The Doctor asks to see if the soothsayers knew anything of the eruption of Vesuvius the next day.

"No," Caecilius simply replied. "Why, should they? Why do you ask?" he then goes to ask, while Alice and the Doctor looked at each other briefly knowing what would happen tomorrow.

"No, no, no reason, just asking," he pretends to tell the man. "But the soothsayers, they all consume the vapours?" The Doctor asks.

"That's how they see," Caecilius tells him in reply .

While now then the Doctor puts on his 'sexy specs' as Alice liked to call them, reaching his arm into the hypocaust while speaking some Latin. "Ipso facto..." which she knew translated as 'by the fact itself'. "They're all consuming this," he now says bringing his hand out sprinkling the little bits of rock between his fingers.

"Dust?" Caecilius wonders.

"Tiny particles of rock," The Doctor replied dipping his finger in it placing it on his tongue making Alice cringe. "They're breathing in Vesuvius."

 **-Doctor Who-**

Awhile later the Doctor had persuaded the boy Quintus to show him where Lucius Petrus lived so he could have a snoop around, while Donna and Alice had been offered by the mother of the family to dress in Roman clothes.

"You're not supposed to laugh. Thanks for that," Donna tells the girl Evelina, while she tried to put the toga on, but her sister wasn't really helping the situation who was laughing along with the girl while wearing something in a similar fashion to her but in a turquoise green.

"What do you think?" she then asked both of their opinion while then suggesting she could pass for, "The goddess Venus."

"That's sacrilege!" The girl complains giving a chuckle.

"Nice to see you laugh, though," Donna points out as she now joins Alice and her in the lounge.

"What do you do in old Pompeii, then, girls your age? You got mates? Do you go hanging about round the shops?" Donna asks. "TK Maximus?" Donna suggests.

"I am promised to the sisterhood for the rest of my life," she told in reply. Alice thought that this wasn't a life a girl should be living when she should be out there having the time of her life.

"Do you get any choice in that?" Alice asks.

"It's not my decision. The sister's chose for me. I have the gift of sight," she told in reply that it was the sisterhood that choose her fate.

"Then what can you see happening tomorrow?" Donna asks knowing that tomorrow Pompeii would be gone while Alice rolled her eyes knowingly exactly where her big sister was going with this and the Doctor wasn't here to help her stop Donna from opening her big mouth.

"Is tomorrow special?" the girl asks.

"You tell me," Donna replies seeing if Evelina could tell through her ability that the volcano would explode tomorrow. "What do you see?" the older Noble asks desperate to know. While the younger sister sighs in disbelief, rolling her eyes once again.

"The sun will rise, the sun will set. Nothing special at all," Evelina predicts.

"Look, don't tell the Doctor I said anything 'cause he'll kill me, but I've got a prophecy, too," but then Alice knew she had to stop her before she said any more.

"Donna, please don't, the Doctor's going to go mental."

But then the girl covers her eyes blocking her out. "Evelina, I'm sorry, but you've got to hear me out," Donna tries to get the girl to listen to her.

"Donna, please stop this now she can't know any of this the Doctor told you not to," Alice begs of her sister but she goes on.

"Evelina, can you hear me?" she tries to get the girl to listen to her.

"There's only one prophecy!" Evelina exclaims still covering her eyes the drawn on eyes on display.

"Everything I'm about to say to you is true, I swear. Just listen to me," she tries to get the girl to hear her out .

"Donna you need to stop you know what the Doctor said about tampering with history like this," Alice warns her trying to pull her away from the girl.

"No, Alice I don't care what you or the Doctor think I'm telling her," she tells her. Neither Alice or the Doctor would stop her from telling the girl.

"Tomorrow that mountain is going to explode. Evelina, please listen," she continued to try to get her see the reality, of what would really happen the next day. "The air is going to fill with ash and rocks, tons and tons of it, and this town will get buried."

"That's not true," Evelina snaps back.

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. But everyone's going to die," Donna apologises in advance.

"Not as sorry as your going to be when the Doctor gets back!" Alice exclaims angrily, shaking her head.

"Even if you don't believe me, just tell your family to get out of town. Just for one day, just for tomorrow but you've got to get out. You've got to leave Pompeii," she begs but the girl doesn't believe her.

"This is false prophecy!" Evelina exclaims once again that it can't be true.

"Your unbelievable," Alice mutters under her breath not believing what her sister has just gone and done, to shocked to do anything about it.

 **-Doctor Who-**

It was not long then after the ground is shaking once more but not by an earthquake as such but from something else. "Caecilius? All of you, get out!" The Doctor calls rushing in into the house with the boy Quintus heading over to Donna and Alice getting them to as well as the others to.

"Doctor, what is it?" Alice asked as she and Donna rush over to the Doctor wanting to know the reason.

"I think we're being followed," He tells her, before the grate blows off the furnace making everyone jump, followed by loud growling before the Doctor tries to get them moving quicker.

"Just get out!" The Doctor shouts in seriousness ,before any more harm is done. Then everyone is again, looking at the furnace, watching as it jolts harshly making the stone crack all the way around. Alice Then grabs a hold of the nearest person for dear life which was the Doctor. Gripping his arm as tight as she could. Soon all that stood in place of the furnace was a massive solider of rock and magma.

"The Gods are with us," Evelina states stepping forward, but the Doctor knew this was no god and it need to be stopped.

"Water, we need water! Quintus, all of you, get water! Donna, Alice!" the Doctor shouts suddenly that everyone needed to put out the monster.

Donna and Alice rush to the room behind in search of water, but before they could they are ambushed by a group of women in red robes and markings on their faces, also eyes on their hands. Alice knew this had to be the Sibylline Sisterhood.

"You have got to be kidding me," Donna asks in disbelief an hour later as both her and Alice were strapped to a stone slab, their hands tied up above their heads.

"The false prophets will surrender both there blood and breath," one of the women in states holding a blade above them.

"Oh, I'll surrender you in a minute," Donna tells the woman angrily.

"Don't you dare," Alice states in anger not wanting to be stabbed in the chest with a knife.

"You will be silent," the woman demands of them both.

"Listen, sister you might have eyes on the back of your hands, but you'll have eyes in the back of your head by the time I finish with you," Donna retorts to the woman. "Let us go!" she then commands.

"This prattling voice will cease forever!" The woman tells Donna once again to be quite as she raises the blade above Donna first making Alice close her eyes.

"Oh that'll be the day," The voice of the Doctor speaks casually leaning against the pillar nearby, breaking the murderous tension in the room. Making Alice sigh in relief that he here. Before lifting their heads up slightly to see him standing there.

"No, man is allowed to enter the Temple of Sybil," The woman shouts out .

"Well, that's all right. Just us girls then," he says not really bothering to move away from the pillar, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Do you know, I met the Sybil once?" he asks rhetorically now approaching the slab Alice and Donna were on.

"Blimey! She can dance the tarantella. Nice teeth. Truth be told, I think she had bit of a thing for me. I said it'd never last. She said 'I know'. Well, she would," he then started to ramble about said woman making Alice roll her eyes impatiently.

"You all right there?" he asks them both as he stands behind them, reaching into his suit pocket getting out his sonic screwdriver.

"Never better," Donna replies with a sarcastic tone.

"Oh, I'm great," Alice replies with just with the same amount of sarcasm as her sister.

"I like your togas," The Doctor compliments the women.

"Thank you," Donna says back sarcastically once again taking the compliment in her stride.

"And the ropes?" Alice asked a fake smile plastered on and a hint of sarcasm in her voice while tugging at the ropes with her hands giving the Time Lord a hint.

"Yeah, not so much," he tells her pulling a face before pointing his sonic at both of the women's bindings setting them free.

"What magic is this?" The woman asks after he puts the sonic away.

"Let me tell you about the Sybil, the founder of this religion. She would be ashamed of you. All her wisdom and insight turned sour" The Doctor tells them. "Is that how you spread the word, eh? On the blade of a knife?" he then goes on to ask .

"Yes, a knife that now welcomes you," she replies rasing the knife about to strike the Doctor.

"Show me this man," another voice commands making the sisters take notice of her and go to their knees.

"High Priestess, the stranger will defile us," the woman pleaded.

"Let me see. This one is different. He carries starlight in his wake," The High Priestess announces.

"Oh, very perceptive," he tells her.

"I just find it plain creepy how she knows that," Alice points out, how very freaky it was

"Where do these words of wisdom come from?" The Doctor asks, taking it off from what Alice just said.

"The gods whisper to me," The High Priestess replied.

"They've done far more than that," The Doctor mutters knowing there was more than meets the eye. "Might I beg audience? Look upon the High Priestess?" he then asks .

As they then draw the curtains Alice and Donna gasp not being able to believe what they were seeing in front of them. A woman made entirely of stone. "Oh, my God!" Donna says in shock of the woman's state.

"What happened to you?" Alice asked curiously.

"The heavens have blessed me," she replied simply.

"If I might..." the Doctor begins, having a closer look and she does, raising her arm slightly to him as he then steps forward in front of her now holding it. "Does it hurt?" He asks.

"It is necessary," she implies.

"Who told you that?" The Doctor asked.

"The voices," she replied honestly.

"Is that what's going to happen to Evelina?" Donna asked with worry.

"Is this what's going to happen to all of you?" Alice then asked not only concerned for the girl but for the rest of the people .

"The blessings are manifold," The woman from before tells the young Noble showing her arm that was partly made of stone, she touches it feeling the hard coolness of the familiar surface before moving away.

"They're stone," Donna points out noticing the women's arm touching it herself now.

"Exactly," he says.

"That means the people of Pompeii turn to stone before the volcano even erupts," Alice suggests to the Doctor.

"You may have a point there Alice," the Doctor agrees with the young woman's suggestion, not really bothered at this time that she once again took the words out of his mouth.

"But why?" he then asks wanting to know.

"This word, this image in your mind, this volcano, what is it?" The High Priestess asks, not sure on what they are on about.

"More to the point, why don't you know about it?" The Doctor asks back wonderingly. "Who are you?" he now demands.

"High Priestess of the Sibylline," she replied simply.

"No, no, no, I'm talking to the creature inside you. The thing that's seeding itself into a human body,the dust in your lungs," the Doctor implies. "Taking over the flesh and turning into what?" he asked wanting to know the name of what has done this.

"Your knowledge is impossible," she says back in reply not being able to handle any more of his words.

"Oh, but you can read my mind. You know it's not," he tells her. "I demand you tell me who you are!" he shouts at her.

"We are awakening." The voice comes out deeper creeping Donna and Alice out.

"The voice of the gods!" the sister that tried to kill Donna cried. Before all the women start chanting.

"Words of wisdom. Words of power," over and over.

"Name yourself. Planet of origin, galactic coordinates, species designation, according to the universal ratification of the Shadow Proclamation," he demands more harshly wanting to know what this creature was.

"We are rising!" The creature speaks angrily standing to its feet now making Alice grab hold of Donna's arm .

"Tell me your name!" he demands once more this time getting the answer.

"Pyrovile!" it shouts out, making the women chant it.

"What's a Pyrovile?" Donna asks coming over to the Doctor bringing Alice with her who was still attached to her arm like a scared child.

"That's a Pyrovile. Growing inside of her. She's at halfway stage," He tells her nodding his head at the creature that was now named.

"What, and that turns into...?" Alice asked the Doctor terrified still her voice a little shaky looking at the Pyrovile.

"That thing in the villa, was an adult Pyrovile," he replied reminding her of the larger one that they had seen earlier.

"And the birth of a Pyrovile will incinerate you, Doctor," the creature then threatens the Doctor pointing its finger at him.

"I warn you. I'm armed." he pulls out a water pistol from his jacket and Alice looks on at him amazed wondering were on earth in that tight suit he could have hidden the pistol.

"One of you get the grille open," he asked of the Nobles.

"What the..." Donna starts to argue.

"Just..." he nods his head in the direction of the grille.

"But..." Donna starts again.

"Oh for God sake Donna, stop complaining and do something useful to get us out of the mess you got us into," Alice tells her sister moodily to shut up shoving her over to where the Doctor nodded his head to.

"What are the Pyrovile doing here?" The Doctor asks.

"We fell from the heavens. We fell so far and so fast, we were rendered into dust," it explains in reply.

Right. Creature of stone shatter on impact," he deduces. "When was that, 17 years ago?" he asks.

"We have slept beneath for thousands of years," it then yells in reply.

"Okay, so 17 years ago woke you up. And now your using human bodies to reconstitute yourself" now knowing that the earthquake woke them up. "But why the psychic powers?" The Doctor wonders.

"We opened there minds and found such gifts," it tells them.

"Fine, so you forced yourself inside a human brain, used there latent psychic talent, I get that, yeah," the Doctor replies. "But seeing the future that is way beyond psychic," he points out. "You can see through time," he goes on. "Where does the gift of prophecy come from?" he asks .

"We've got it!" Alice called out to the Doctor as Donna and her had managed to get the grille off.

"Now, get down here both of you," he instructs both of them.

"What? Down there?" Donna asks whether he's being serious or not.

"Yes, down there," he tells her back in reply.

"Why," she says as she pulls a face looking down at the hole

"Do what the Doctor says Donna," Alice tells her sister .

"Why can't this lot predict the volcano? Why is it being hidden?" he then asks how that they have not seen the event of the volcano exploding.

"Sisters, I see into his mind. The weapon is harmless," The woman still standing reads the Doctor that the pistol won't do much harm.

"Yeah, but it's gotta sting," he agrees with her before squirting the creature making steam rise of it's body as it moaned in pain.

 **-Doctor Who-**

he then runs to the hole calling for both of the women to get in Donna first then the Doctor and Alice. "You fought her off with a water pistol. I bloody love you!" Donna exclaims of his heroism .

"Where we going now?" Alice asks as the Doctor moved forward through the hot cavern.

"Into the volcano," he tells her in reply.

"No way," Donna and Alice say back in unison, he couldn't be serious.

"Yes way," he says back twirling the water pistol.

As the three-time travelers journeyed towards the volcano underground, Donna starts to asks questions on the subject of trying to stop the eruption making Alice annoyed. Once more her sister was trying to change history.

"But if it's the aliens setting off the volcano, doesn't that make it all right for you to stop it?" the elder Noble asks .

"It's still part of history," he replies simply, it can't be changed not matter what.

"But I'm history to you. You saved me in 2008, you saved us all," she the points out to him, "Why is that different?"

"Some things are fixed, some are flux. Pompeii is fixed," he explains back in reply that some events can and can't be stopped like the current one that was about to happen.

"How do you know which is which?" Donna wonders.

"Because that's how I see the universe. Every waking second I can see what is, what was, what could be, what must not," he states and Alice thought; it must be hell inside his head sometimes. She felt his pain, making the locket hidden under her toga heat against her skin.

"It's the burden of a Time Lord, Donna. And I'm the only one left," he puts it to her.

"How many people died?" Donna asks with sadness needing to know the amount of lives will be lost in Pompeii.

"Stop it!" he pleads and Alice could see it was bothering him.

"Leave him alone Donna," she bluntly tells her older sister.

"Doctor! How many people died?" she asks of him once again.

"Twenty thousand!" he tells her finally on reply to how many were lost.

"Is that all you can see, Doctor? All 20,000? And you think that's all right, do you?" She then asks. And before he can reply the roaring of a Pyrovile calls out in the air.

"They know we're here. Come on!" The Doctor hurries them along, now the creatures knew they were here as they raced through the tunnels and pathways. They had now arrived to what seemed to be the centre of the volcano, and they needed to silent as possible.

"It's the heart of Vesuvius. Were right inside the mountain," the Doctor now tells both the women as they hide behind some rocks and they watch dozens of the aliens marching about.

"There are tons of them," Alice notices.

"What's that thing?" the Doctor wonders getting out a small telescope, trying to get a good look at the odd object in the middle of the volcano.

"Well you better hurry up and think of something. Rocky IV's on its way," Donna gets the Doctor to be quick because a Pyrovile was coming their way.

"That's how they arrived. Or what's left of it. An escape pod," The Doctor reckons, listing other possibilities. "Prison ship. Gene bank..." before putting his telescope away.

"But why do they need a volcano?" Alice asked, "Maybe it erupts and they launch themselves back into space or something," Alice then now suggested.

"No Alice I think it's worse than that," the Doctor tells the young woman .

"How can it be worse?" The older noble wants to know before there is a roaring behind them making them all jump in fright. "Doctor, it's getting closer," she tells him .

"Heathens! Defile us! They will desecrate your temple, my lord gods! " the voice of Lucius the Augar calls out to the betrayal of the three-time travelers.

"Come on," he instructs for the women to follow him.

"We can't go in!" Donna calls to the Doctor in fright.

"Well, we can't go back," he replies as they start moving quickly.

"Crush them! Burn them!" the Augar commands the aliens to get the them as they ran for there lives only to get stopped by a Pyrovile in there path.

Alice now remembers the water pistol the Doctor put in his back pocket she yanks it out as he complains and with all the courgae she could muster started squirting the Pyrovile before it crumbled to the floor.

"Good aim," he compliments the young woman as she hands the pistol back to him.

"Thanks," she shouts back blushing a little before he grabs hold of both of her and Donna's hands and starts running towards the pod.

"There's nowhere to run, Doctor and daughters of London!" Lucius tells them. "Now then, Lucius, my Lord Pyrovillian," The Doctor commands the augars attetion. "Don't get yourselves in a lava," he trys to joke because they were in a a volcano. "In a lava? No?" he asks looking to Donna and Alice who didn't see the funny side of it.

"No," Donna replies simply.

"Definatly not," Alice honestly replied.

"But if I might beg the wisdom of the gods before we perish," The Doctor questions as to why this race of aliens was on earth. "Once this new race of creatures is complete, then what?" he asks wondering what they'll do one they've accomplished this.

"My masters will follow the example of Rome itself, an almighty empire, bestriding the whole of civilisation!" Lucius exclaims.

"But if you've crashed, and you've got all this technology, why don't you just go home?" Donna asks .

"The heaven of Pyrovillia is gone," the augar replies.

"What do you mean, gone? Where's it gone?" Alice asks, her watch heating up and finding it strange for a planet to vanish the Doctor rolls his eyes that she took his words once again.

"It was taken! Pyrovillia is lost," he replies back.

"But there is heat enough in this world for a new species to rise!" Lucius proclaimed.

"Yeah, I should warn you. It's 70 percent water out there," the Doctor gestures.

"Water can boil and everything can burn, Doctor!"

"Then the whole planet is at stake. Thank you, that's all I needed to know," He says back calmly as possible making Alice and Donna look on at him with their mouths hanging open. "Donna! Alice!" he calls out to them shoving them both into the pod where the Doctor would have to make a most dreadful decision.

All three of them were now inside the pod with the most strange looking machinery Alice had ever seen . Also to say it also felt a little cramped for three was an understatement.

"Could we be anymore trapped?" Alice asks with worry.

"A little bit hot" Donna then mentions making Alice start to fan herself with her hands.

"See, the energy converter takes the lava" he starts to explain pushing down one switch . "Uses the power to create a fusion matrix which welds Pyrovile to human. Now it's complete they can convert millions" he continues to explain to both the women.

"Can't you change it with these controls?" Donna asks the Doctor.

"Of course I can" He replies, but then again there was something in the middle of it all.

"But don't you see?" he asks. "That's why the soothsayers can't see the volcano. There is no volcano. Vesuvius is never going to erupt" The Time Lord points out .

"The Pyrovile are stealing all its power. They're gonna use it to take over the world," and when he said that Alice felt the situation was more dire than expected. Then if this happened Earth wouldn't be Earth it made her watch warm against her skin unpleasantly as she felt emotions that weren't her own. They were the Doctors.

"But you can change it back," Alice suggests if there was a way to reverse this.

"Well, I can invert the system so that the volcano will blow up with them up, yes, but that's the choice, Alice. It's Pompeii or the world" the Doctor tells the young woman .a most terrible choice to make.

"Oh, my God" both the sisters then say in shock.

"If Pompeii is destroyed, then it's not just history. It's me. I make it happen" he tells them both that it the history of how the Vesuvius erupted would be his doing just to save the world from these creatures.

The Doctor starts reversing the process making his choice to blow up the mountain. "But the Pyrovile are made of rocks. Maybe they can't be blown up" Donna then tells the Doctor in worry .

"Vesuvius exploded with the force of 24 nuclear bombs. Nothing can survive it," he implies that the blast would be very powerful and that the Pyrovile wouldn't survive. "Certainly not us," he tells them both that they might not survive this.

"Never mind us," Alice tells him not to worry, putting on a brave face.

"Push this lever and it's over," he places his hands on it, "Twenty thousand people..." he says in sadness not believing what he's about to do and Alice could feel the pain he was feeling as her locket warmed her skin once again.

Then with a caring gesture Alice puts her small hand on top of his and Donna the other both showing him that he wasn't going to face this alone by himself before then all pushing down the lever. It's not before long the pod starts to shakes as it's shot out of the volcano making the women scream as they get tumbled about like rag dolls.

"It was an escape pod" The Doctor explains its use and Alice in her mind had guessed it right from the start.

"I hate for us to stand around and chat but we've got tons of ash and rock heading our way," Alice points out in panic seeing the mass of destruction heading their way getting the Doctor's and Donna's attention now as he grabs both of their hands as they all make a run for there lives.

As soon as they got back into the city there was nothing but panic and chaos everywhere as the ash fell Donna tried to get the people to listen to her but they were too involved in themselves. Alice knew that there was nothing they could do because they made this happen one of the most tragic things in Roman history now she truly knew how her sister had felt about saving these people.

They had made it back to the villa where the Tardis was still in its place. "You can't save us, Doctor" Caecilius calls out to him keeping his family close but he looks at them only for a few seconds before rushing off to the Tardis leaving Alice and Donna standing in shock now hoping he would have done something.

"Doctor, no!" Alice calls out pleadingly to him before looking to Evelina she was such a sweet, caring girl and her family didn't deserve to die like this, and it angered her so, that the Doctor was being so heartless leaving them and it made her watch burn with the anger she was feeling.

"Doctor, you can't!" her sister calls out to him in the same way.

"Doctor, please!" Alice calls pleadingly once again out to him starting to sob, tears now running down her cheeks as wasDonna.

"Doctor!" Donna calls out once more but both the sisters knew it was no use, as they both looked at the family once more before the sound of the Tardis starting up hit their ears, as Donna pulls her sister along quickly as possible over to the ship opening the doors and entering.

 **-Doctor Who-**

Donna was so stricken with grief and pain for the family that it angered her as it did Alice. She saw her sister about to speak.

"No, let me" she offers as they both felt the same. "You can't just leave them!" Alice screams at him in anger striding up to the Doctor with Donna following, but now felt this anger wasn't entirely her own as the watch was still burning.

"Don't you think I've done enough?" he asks rhetorically ignoring the young woman as he moved about the console. "History is back in place and everyone dies."

"You've got to go back! Doctor, I'm telling you, please just take it back!" she pleads tears spilling down her cheeks trying to get him to bring the machine back to the poor family.

But he ignores her pulling a lever making the ship jolt as they all hold on to something before it stops again and then there is nothing but silence only the sound of the Tardis engines moving.

"It's not fair" the young Noble voices to him as she calms down a little. She tries to get the Doctor to look at her.

"No, it's not" he somewhat agrees head still down concentrating on driving the machine.

"But your own planet. It burned" she tells him remembering the images of a planet in flames like the augar had said.

"That's just it. Don't you see, Alice? Can't you understand?" he questions to her. "If I could go back and save them, then I would. But I can't" he tries to get her to see. "I can never go back. I can't. I just can't. I can't" he says back angrily to her that he just doesn't have it in him to go back and help those people.

"Just someone. Please" she begs once again stepping towards him well trying his best to push her away. "Not the whole town. Just save someone, please" she asks looking at Donna her sister still crying silently before then with another plea to the Doctor once more placing her hand on his hoping he would reconsider. And he looks at her hand touching his, seeing the hurt in her eyes knowing he couldn't see sense to saying no any more.

On the hillside with the family they just saved watching the very destruction of Pompeii, was just heartbreaking Alice knew she would never be able to look at history the same way ever again.

"It's never forgotten, Caecilius. Oh, time will pass, man will move on and the stories will fade, but one day, Pompeii will be found again. In thousands of years" the Doctor assures him.

"And everyone will remember you" he tells them.

"What about you, Evelina? Can you see anything?" Alice hears her sister ask the girl.

"The visions have gone" she replies.

"The explosion was so powerful, it cracked open a rift in time. Just for a second. That's what gave you the gift of prophecy. It echoed back into the Pyrovillian alternative" The Doctor explains to Evelina. "But not anymore. Your free" he then finishes telling her not to worry about it, she could do what she wanted now and that made Alice happy.

"But tell me, who are you, Doctor? With your words and your temple containing such size within" Caecilius wife wonders.

"Oh, I was never here. Don't tell anyone" he gets her to promise.

"The great god Vulcan must be enraged" Caecilius voices how angry the god must be. "It's so volcanic. It's like some sort of...volcano" he starts to wonder thinking up a word for what he is seeing. "All those people" he then says sadly bringing his wife closer to him as she cried into his shoulder, while the three-time travellers looked on at the family before then leaving them going inside the TARDIS.

As soon as they were in the ship again there was nothing but a peaceful silence through out the room as Alice and Donna looked on at the Doctor as he started the TARDIS up.

"Thank you" Alice praises for both her and Donna know that it's something she wanted all along.

"Yeah" he says back in a whatever sort of way at first before going back on it. "You were both right. Sometimes I need someone" He now agrees. "Welcome aboard" he tells them now glad to have their company on the ship.

"Yeah" the sisters agree with him before they then shoot out to the vortex once again wondering were their next adventure would be. Where the young Noble would discover the truth about herself.

Then things would change when the last of the Time Lords would discover he's not so alone as once thought.


	3. Planet of the Ood

**Planet of the Ood**

 **Disclaimer:** Alice Noble is mine but Doctor Who and it's characters belong to the BBC.

It had been a couple of days since Pompeii. Alice wasn't really sure, you could never really tell. But you still managed to get a good nights rest and a decent meal. Currently the three time-travellers were being shaken about as the TARDIS headed to where ever it was going.

"Set the controls for random. Mystery tour," The Doctor tells both women. "Outside that door could be any planet, anywhere, any when in the whole uni..." he goes on but soon stops talking as he notices the looks on both Donna and Alice's faces.

"Are you both all right?" he asks with a little concern.

"Terrified. I mean history is one thing, but an alien planet!" Donna replies back, being scared and excited at the same time.

"I could always take you both home," he suggests.

"Yeah, don't laugh at us," Donna tells The Doctor but the other sister was feeling just the same as well.

"I know what it's like, everything you're feeling right now," he strides over to her from behind the console. "Fear, the joy, the wonders, I get that!" he tells Donna.

"Seriously? After all this time?" Alice asked him somewhat excited.

"Yeah! Why do you think I keep going?" he said back in reply.

"Oh! All right, then, you and us both," Donna says back. "This is barmy!" she announces. "We was born in Chiswick. We've only ever done package holidays and now we're here," the older Noble exclaims. "This is... It's not... I mean, it's..." she then tries to explain. "I don't know, it's all sort of...I don't even know what the word is!" she shouts in excitement, dragging Alice along with her out through the door. That's when the temperature hits them both.

"I've got a word for you sis. Freezing," she tells Donna wrapping her arms around herself as they were both hardly wearing the proper clothes for the weather on this planet.

"Snow! Ah, real snow. Proper snow at last," The Doctor says happily not noticing how cold both the women were . "That's more like it. Lovely."

"What do you think?" he then asks them both.

"Bit cold," Alice answers for them both as the wind and snow blows in her face.

"Look at the view," he tries.

It was stunning in Alice's opinion. "Yes, its a beautiful, cold view."

"Millions of planets, millions of galaxies, and we're on this one," he tells them. "'Molto bene, bellissimo, says Donna'. Born in Chiswick. Oh, you've both had a life of work and sleep, university, telly, rent. tax, and takeaway dinners, all birthdays and Christmases, and two weeks' holiday a year, and then you both end up here," The Doctor starts to ramble.

"Donna and Alice Noble, citizens of the Earth, standing on a different planet," he then tells them. "How about that, Donna, Alice?" he asks as he turns to see them nowhere in sight. "Donna? Alice?" he calls out to them before, right on cue the TARDIS door opens. Alice coming out wearing a thick navy blue wool coat, scarf and ear muffs. Donna was wearing a thick black faux fur jacket with a hood.

"Better?" he asks Donna, somewhat annoyed that they never heard his speech.

"Lovely, thanks," Donna replies now happy and cosy.

"Comfy?" He then asks the other sister still annoyed but not as much.

"Very much," Alice replied to him in the same way as her sister.

"Can you hear anything inside that?" He asks the older Noble nearly shouting at her.

"Pardon?" Donna jokes pretending not to hear him before they start to walk.

"Right. I was saying, citizens of the Earth-" he starts off, then at that moment a fancy red rocket flies overhead interrupting him.

"A rocket! Blimey, a real, proper rocket! Now that's what I call a spaceship," she slaps his arm in excitement, but Alice thought it was a bit to flashy for her tastes.

"You've got a box...he's got a Ferrari. Come on, let's see where he's going," Donna explained out the difference between the TARDIS and the rocket, the Doctor feeling rather hurt by her comment looked back at his ship.

"Don't worry about her Doctor, I like the TARDIS it's more... timeless," Alice tells the Time Lord.

"Glad you think so. Now come on let's catch up with that sister yours before we lose her," he says now cheered up by the young Noble, now holding his arm out for her, she grabs on before they continue to follow Donna.

-Doctor Who-

The three travellers were continuing through the snowy landscape of the alien planet they had landed on, laughing in joy and amazement, not believing where they were as they crossed over a rocky bridge. Before to long, the Doctor stops at hearing the sound of ethereal music. "Hold on...can either of you hear that? Donna, take your hood down. Alice take your ear muffs off," he tells them both.

"What?" Donna asks unsure to what he's on about and Alice takes off her earmuffs.

"That noise...it's like a song," the Doctor tells them. "Over there!" he shouts alerting both women as they are now running over to an alien of some sort, half buried by the snow.

"What is it?"Donna asks looking a bit disgusted by how the aliens looked.

"An Ood. He's called an Ood," he tells her, now kneeling beside it he pulls out a stethoscope from his coat.

"But its face..." She points out how weird it looks.

That's when what the Doctor heard suddenly hits Alice. The Doctor was trying to find the aliens heart, the locket heated against her skin slightly making her gasp. Feeling the emotions of the aliens pain and sadness through its song. It was like the time when she felt the emotions of the Doctor.

"Donna, don't, not now. It's a 'he', not an 'it'. Give me a hand," he tells her.

"Sorry," she apologised, before kneeling down on the other side of the Ood.

"I don't know where the heart is. Does he even have a heart? Talk to him. Keep him going," he says still trying to find if its heart is beating, he looks round quickly to find Alice staring out blankly with her mouth open.

"Alice a little help would you, please," The Doctor stops what he's doing waving his hand in front of her face, breaking her from whatever trance she was in.

"Oh, sorry I was miles away," she apologised not wanting to to arouse suspicion. But what she didn't realise that it was too late.

"It's all right. We've got you," Donna tells the Ood.

"Um... what's your name?" Alice asks.

"Designated Ood Delta 50." He responses.

"My name's Donna," the older Noble speaks in what must be a translator ball.

"No, no, no, no. You don't need to," the Doctor panics a little telling her there was no need to speak in the ball.

"Sorry. Oh, God...this is the Doctor. Just what you need...a doctor. Couldn't be better, eh?" she apologised once again.

"Doctor it's been shot," Alice points out, to the Time Lord noticing the aliens wound.

"The circle..." The Ood starts to speak but Donna gets it to stop.

"No, don't try to talk"

"The circle must be broken," it speaks fully.

"The circle? What do you mean? Delta 50, what circle? Delta 50? What circle?" The Doctor asks trying to understand what it is trying to say, before the Odd opens his eyes and they're red. The Doctor, Alice and Donna scramble back as he growls and sits up. The growl fades away and he collapses, dead.

"He's gone," Alice being cautious walks towards the still body.

"Alice, be careful," the Doctor warns.

She places a hand on his chest. "There you are, poor thing," she say as she strokes his head affectionately before moving away. "We were too late. What do we do, do we bury him?" She asks looking to the Ood then the Doctor.

"The snow will take care of that," he tells her.

"Who was he? And what's an Ood?" Donna then asks.

"They're servants... of humans in the 42nd century. Mildly telepathic. That was the song...it was his mind calling out," he explains.

"I couldn't hear anything," the older Noble tells him.

"He sang as he was dying," she points out, but Alice knew that she did now she had a feeling this locket was way beyond anything normal.

"But his eyes turned red, what did that mean?" Alice asks.

"Trouble. Come on," he replies before he starts to walk with the sisters following behind.

"The Ood are harmless and completely benign. Except for the last time I met them, there was this force, like a stronger mind, powerful enough to take them over," he explains.

"What sort of force?" Donna asks.

"Long story," he replies.

"Long walk," she points out.

"It was the devil," he says back simply making Donna and Alice pull a funny face not taking it seriously.

"If you're gonna take the mickey, I'll just put my hood back up," she tells him.

"Must be something different this time, though. Something closer to home," The Doctor thinks before he peers over a snowy cliff noticing an facility of some sort. "Aha! Civilisation!" He calls out.

-Doctor Who-

The anticipated group of buyers arrive and are greeted by a woman. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Ood-Sphere and isn't it amazing? Here are your information packs with vouchers, 3D tickets and a map of the complex," she goes on as a Ood hands them out each a folder. "My name's Solana, Head of Marketing. I'm sure we've all spoken on the vid-phone. Now if you'd like to follow me..." She introduces herself before getting them to follow.

Out of nowhere the Doctor, Alice and Donna come running up to her."Sorry, sorry! We're late! Don't mind us! Hello. The guards let us through," The Doctor called out gaining the woman's attention.

"And you would be..." Solana starts to wonder.

"The Doctor, also Alice and Donna Noble," He introduces them holding out his psychic paper for her to look at.

"Representing the Noble Corporation, PLC Limited, Intergalactic," Alice tells the woman Solana now getting her to look at the psychic paper once more.

"Must have fallen off my list. My apologies, it won't happen again. Now then, Dr Noble, Mrs Noble and your personal assistant if you'd like to come with me." Solana apologies for the mix up, mistaking Alice and the Doctor for a couple like the time in Pompeii when it had happened to him and Donna.

"Oh, no, no, no. We're not married," he exclaimed.

"We're so not married," Alice scoffs jokily.

"Never," the Doctor implies to Solana.

"Never ever," Alice agrees with him on it.

"Of course. Here is your information pack. Vouchers inside." Solana now understanding of the situation. She hands the Doctor the information packet. "Now, if you'd like to come with me, the executive suites are nice and warm," she now gets them to follow her into the building before an alarm blares out in the facility making the Doctor stop midway from going inside.

"Ooh, what's that? Sounds like an alarm," the Doctor questions about the noise making the other buyers look also.

"It's just a siren for the end of the work shift. Now then, this way! Quick as you can!" she informs everyone.

"As you can see, the Ood are happy to serve, and we keep them in facilities of the highest standard" the sales woman starts her presentation, first about how they love to serve also how well they are looked after. "Here at the Double-O, that's Ood Operations, we like to think of the Ood as our trusted friends," then shows they can be a companion as well.

"We keep the Ood healthy, safe and educated," that there fed well and are taught things. "We don't just breed the Ood, we make them better" to be helped to be made so much more. "Because at heart, what is an Ood but a reflection of us?" then thinks they are like humans. "If your Ood is happy...then you'll be happy, too" she finishes off. "I'd like to point out a new innovation from Ood Operations. We've introduced a variety package with the Ood translator ball" Solana then now announces awhile later getting everybody's attention.

"You can now have the standard setting," she turns to the Ood to show them. "How are you today, Ood?" she asks it.

"I'm perfectly well, thank you," it responds picking up the ball from its chest lighting up as it spoke.

"Or perhaps after a stressful day, a little something for the gentlemen," she goes to the next one that advertises something for men. "And how are you, Ood?" she asks in a different way.

"All the better for seeing you," it replies back in a sultry feminine voice.

"And the comedy classic option. Ood, you dropped something," she now shows the comedy option which voices Homer Simpson making most in the room laugh. "The details are in your brochures. Now there's plenty more food and drink, don't hold back," she says.

As Donna helps herself to a drink the Doctor puts his glasses on, going over to a control panel along with Alice, bringing up the galaxy before them. "Ah, got it," he says finally finding what he was looking for, as Donna now joins them and Alice couldn't help notice how beautiful it really looked. "The Ood Sphere. I've been to this solar system before, years ago. Ages. Close to the planet Sense Sphere," he tells them. "Let's widen it out...the year 4126. That is the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire," the Doctor explains before widening the search parameters on the panel going over to have a look at the screen showing how far the human race has come.

"4126? It's 4126? I'm in 4126," Donna voices not believing how in the future they were at this moment in time.

"It's good, isn't it?" the Doctor asks her.

"What's the Earth like now?" Alice asks him.

"A bit full, but the empire stretches out across three galaxies," he explains.

"It's weird. I mean, it's brilliant, but back at home, the papers and telly, they keep saying we haven't got long to live. Global warming, flooding, all the bees disappearing," Donna points out how amazing it is that the humans come this far.

"Yeah. That thing about the bees is odd," The Doctor says back.

"But look at us. We're everywhere," Donna points out.

"Yeah, but is it a good thing or bad thing, though? I mean are we like explorers or just more like a virus?" Alice asks wondering if this does any harm or good to the people of Earth.

"Sometimes I wonder," he replies back.

"What are the red dots?" Donna asks pointing them out on the map.

"Ood distribution centres" The Doctor tells her.

"Across three galaxies?" Alice asks wondering why drag them around from place to place when they could be free. "Don't the Ood have a say in this?" she asked wanting to know what the aliens thought, before they both go off to an Ood before the Doctor could stop them both.

"Um, sorry, but..." Donna tries to get the Ood's attention before tapping it on the shoulder getting it to look at her. "Tell me, are you all like this?" Donna then asks.

"I do not understand, miss," It replies back to her not being sure what she meant and taking offence to calling her 'Miss' in the process.

"Why'd you say 'miss'? Do I look single?"

"Back to the point Don," Alice tells her sister.

"Yeah. What I mean is, are there any free Ood? Are their Ood running wild somewhere, like wildebeest?" Donna now asks.

"All Ood are born to serve. Otherwise we would die," The Ood responds, but Alice couldn't help but feel that it didn't start like this for them.

"You can't have started like that. Before the humans, what were you like?" she wondered.

"The circle," It then says, all of three of them recollecting the Ood that was shot said that same thing.

"What do you mean? What circle?" the Doctor asks point-blank wanting to know what this circle was.

"The...The...circle is..." It tries to say what it is to them before there interrupted by Solana.

"Ladies and gentlemen, all Ood to hospitality stations, please," she gains the other people's attention before then telling the Ood to do what there asked.

"I've had enough of this," he now tells them before pulling the map out of his coat pocket. "Do you both fancy going off the beaten track?" he asks.

"A Rough Guide to the Ood Sphere'? Sounds good to me," implies the young Noble excitedly a slight grin on her face before they all sneak off unnoticed.

They had managed to get outside and arrive at a gate, the Doctor opens it with the sonic gaining them unauthorised access to the rest of the Ood Sphere. They go up some stairs taking them up to a high platform.

And greeting their sight before them was groups and groups of gods know how many Ood's marching out not like soldiers but like slaves. One trips over on the way, a man in black uniform notices. "Get up," he commands it to. "I said, get up," he orders more harshly whipping the Ood.

"Servants?" Alice asks herself still not believing what she was witnessing. "They're slaves," she points out it angered Alice so much.

"Last time I met the Ood, I never thought, never asked," The Doctor tells of his last meeting with them.

"That's not like you," Donna tells him.

"I was busy. So busy I couldn't save them. I had to let the Ood die," The Doctor says. "I reckon I owe them one," he replies to himself feeling bad.

"That looks like the boss," Donna points out to the man in the suit, a Ood and two security guards leading them somewhere.

"Let's keep out of his way. Come on," he tells both of them. But Alice felt anger not her own towards the man. Looking over her shoulder once more at him before they leave hoping that he'd pay dearly for treating the Ood like this.

-Doctor Who-

They had walked around the complex for what felt like hours to both sisters as they followed behind the Doctor who had his glasses on looking at the map wondering where they should go. Then before long they both spot a door that he hasn't seemed to of noticed so Alice catches his attention by whistling loudly startling him.

"Where did you learn to whistle?" he asks amazed at the young woman putting away his glasses and getting out his sonic wondering where she learnt it from.

"West Ham, every Saturday," she tells him simply learning the skill from her father when her and Donna got taken to see football matches with him when they were young.

He then sonics the door unlocking it as it slides open them stepping inside to some sort of warehouse storage full of blue crates. "Ood export" he tells them where they are. "You see? Lifts up the containers, takes them to the rocket ships, ready to be flown out all over the three galaxies" he then points out the big claw like machine that remind Alice of the ones that you get in those machines with the soft toy in that you had to grab.

"What, you mean these containers are full of..." Donna wonders pointing to the boxes not believing theses containers all could have Ood in. "What do you think?" he asks looking at her before then opening a door to a container showing Gods know how many Ood where in there. "Oh, it stinks" Donna then notices the smell so does Alice but she knew this wasn't right in the slightest.

"How many of them do you think there are in each one?" the young Noble asks the Doctor with concern. "A hundred. More" he replies guessing unsure of the numbers himself.

"A great, big empire built on nothing but slavery this is so wrong on so many levels" Alice then says with slight anger her watch heating against skin in her disgust what the future of the human race would still do this sort of thing in the future. "It's not so different from your time" he points out to the young woman things weren't so much in her time she comes from.

"Well, at least I don't have slaves"Donna implies nobody serves her making Alice look at her in disbelief.

"Who do you think made your clothes?" the Doctor points about her clothes that was made by others.

"Is that why you travel around with a human at your side? It's not so you can show them the wonders of the universe. It's so you can take cheap shots" The older Noble tells the Doctor what she thinks about bringing people like her with him to travel with so he could have a go at them.

"Sorry" he apologizes to her for his behaviour.

"Well don't. Spaceman" She tells him not to nudging him lightly in the shoulder calling him that name when she was mad at him.

"The door was open, so why don't you just run away?" Alice asks to them how they hadn't tried to escape from this place.

"For what reason?" One of the Ood ask her to why they would want to escape.

"So that you can be free" she tells them simply in reply.

"I do not understand the concept" but then it says back that it does not understand what the young woman is trying to tell them.

"What is it with that Persil ball?" Donna asks about the round white ball. "I mean, they're not born with it, are they?" and goes on to ask wondering where the ball came from.

"Why do they have to be all plugged in?" Alice asks what the use of the ball was.

"Ood, tell me, does the circle mean anything to you?" The Doctor now asks about if they knew what it was as the one that had died and the one in the showroom mentioned it and he needed to know what it was about. "The circle must be broken" Every single Ood in the container replies all at once.

"Oh, that is creepy" Donna says a little freaked out by it.

"Definitely gave me the chills" Alice agrees with her sister on it.

"What is it? What's the circle?" He asks once again like many times before needing find out about it. "The circle must be broken" they repeat the same thing back to him. "Why?" the Doctor then asks why it needed to be broken. "So we can sing" they reply now Alice once again hearing the song from the Ood her watch warming against her again.

Not before long an alarm goes off meaning that they've been discovered of their trespassing and the fact they were a none existant company. "That's us. Come on" the Doctor gets both women out of the container quickly as possible as they then start to make a run for it. Donna then notices a way of escape but and calls out to the Doctor and her sister but they both seemed to of not heard her.

"Where've you gone?" The Doctor looks behind him briefly noticing Donna wasn't there.

"Where's Donna?" Alice asks wondering where she's got to before she hears her older sister's shouting madly meaning she'd been caught. Some guards come round the corner the Doctor quickly grabbing hold of Alice's hand to keep her alongside him as they ran.

"Donna, where are you?" Alice calls out for her sister as her and the Doctor continued running not realizing they were being watched. But both then stopped for a breather before checking the cost was clear of guards and thankfully it was. It was when they heard the sound of the metal claw approach an upon seeing it they run once again.

It was chasing after them every which way turning this way and that as they tried to escape it before it slams down on the ground trying to grab them but get missed by a couple of inches. The claw still chases them and tries to make a grab for them once again making them duck this time and continued on bouncing off containers as they went. Then it comes down unexpectedly behind them making them fall to the floor letting hands go for a few seconds before grabbing hold of each other again once more. The machine who was ever controlling it still wasn't giving up before then not noticing the barrel lying on the floor Alice trips over it bringing them both to the floor the claw above them coming closer to them now flat on their backs then stops not far above from them as they breathe heavily.

-Doctor Who-

"Doctor, get me out of here!" The Doctor and Alice both suddenly hear Donna call out in panic as they get escorted by guards.

"If you don't do what she says, you're really in trouble" the Time Lord points out if she wasn't let out there would be hell to pay. "Not from me, from her" then implies that it won't be him getting an earful so they then open the container.

"Doctor, Alice" she comes running out to hug them both happy to see them.

"There we go. Safe and sound" he says pulling away from her that no harm was done.

"Never mind about me. What about them?" Donna tells him not to worry before pointing out the Ood coming out of the container all of them red-eyed before then shocking a guard with its ball.

The guards start to fire at them as the travellers escape along with Solana the Ood following behind them as the run towards an exit now leaving the warehouse behind them. Hiding behind a wall of another building. "If people back on Earth knew what was going on here..." Donna implies wondering if people knew

"Don't be so stupid. Of course they know," Solana says back that they do.

"They know how you treat the Ood?" Alice asks a little shocked at this.

"They don't ask. Same thing," she says back they never ask about how the Ood get treated.

"Solana, the Ood aren't born like this. They can't be. A species born to serve could never evolve in the first place" The Doctor looks to her seeing if she knew how they actually came.

"What does the company do to make them obey?" Alice asks how the Ood are controlled taking the words out of the Doctors mouth which sort of annoyed him a little.

"It's nothing to do with me" Solana replies back a little bitterly that she hasn't a clue what happens to the Ood.

"Oh, what, 'cause you don't ask?" The Doctor asks a little peeved mocking about her never asking about it.

"That's Dr Ryder's territory," she replies back telling him who's in charge of that part of processing the Ood.

"Where is he? What part of the complex?" he asks getting the map out to so she could show him where Dr Ryder could be found but she is unsure at first if she wants to help. "I could help with the red eye. Now, show me!" the Doctor begs of Solana to show him as he could help the problem with the Ood.

"There, beyond the red section," she caves pointing out where to go on the map.

"Come with me. You've seen the warehouse. You can't agree with all of this. You know this place better than me. You could help," he sees if she would come with him but she instead calls for the guards making the Doctor, Alice and Donna run for it.

"They're over here! Guards! They're over here!"

Meanwhile not knowing that Solana had told Mr Halpen where they were heading they were running like there lives depended on it coming across some guards making them turn around quickly into another direction. But not long find somewhere to hide and that's when Alice here's it again the singing of the Ood but this time it wouldn't go away.

"Oh, can't you hear it?" the Doctor asks if either of the sisters can hear the singing but Alice could hear it but tried to not let on that she couldn't.

"No, I can't hear anything" she replies covering the sadness in her voice because the song was so heart breaking.

"I didn't need the map. I should have listened" The Doctor implies he never need the map after all but to listen to the Ood instead to guide the way as he got the door open with the sonic before opening it letting the Alice and Donna go first then himself before then closing it behind him and locking it shut with the sonic cutting out the circuitry making it spark.

"Does that mean we're locked in?" Donna then asks with worry but the Doctor and Alice are occupied hearing the Ood in there heads.

"Listen," he tells her seeing if she could hear but knew well by now that she probably could. "Listen, listen, listen, listen" he continues to say before they walk down some stairs that's when it hits both Alice and the Doctor full blast making not only his head hurt but hers as well. "Oh, my head," the Doctor complains.

"What is it?" Donna asks seeing if there's anything wrong.

"Can't you hear it? The singing" he asks her like the time before if she heard it but Alice still can. Then he shines the torch he's holding at some cages noticing something there he then goes in search of a light turning it to activate it upon a cage full of Ood they had never seen like this before.

"They look different to the others" Alice points out how they compare to the other Ood they've met while trying to ignore the pounding in her head.

"That's because there natural-born Ood, unprocessed, before they're adapted to slavery, unspoiled" the Doctor explains that these what they look like before conversions they walked over to the cage. Now kneeling down in front of it having a closer look. "That's there song" he tells Donna what he's hearing.

"I can't hear it" Donna tells him she can't hear the song.

"Do you want to?" he asks Donna if she wants to listen to it but notices that Alice still seemed to been hearing it for what must have been awhile as there were some dry tear tracks on her face already and fresh tears appearing. But how is she hearing it? This young woman was looking less human than ever before and this was something he would have to deal with later.

"Yeah" he then hears Donna's reply of wanting to hear the song breaking him out of his thoughts of the mystery that was now Alice Noble. "It's the song of captivity" he tells her what the song is about seeing if she still wanted to listen to it.

"Let me hear it"

"Face me" The Doctor gets Donna to look towards him placing both his hands on either side of her head where her temples were. "Open your mind, that's it. Hear it, Donna. Hear the music" he get's her to open up letting hear it as she turns to look at the Ood it upsets her making her cry and finds it too much to not wanting to listen to it anymore.

"Take it away"

"You sure?" he asks making sure if she wants it gone.

"I can't bear it" she tells in reply that she just can't take it anymore so then the Doctor takes away like he did before placing his hands on the side of her head once again taking it away. "I'm sorry" she apologies to him.

"It's okay" he tells her not to worry about it.

"But you can still hear it?" she asks him knowing it will never go away for him.

"All the time" he replies simply, glancing at Alice briefly.

Not long after the Doctor opens the cage so he could get a closer look at the unprocessed Ood while the guards where now heard breaking the door in from above and they obviously now been found.

"They're breaking in" Alice points out to him.

"Ah, let them" he says back not really caring if they do as they all now enter the cage and crouch down on the floor in front of the Ood.

"What are you holding? Show me" The Doctor asks of the Ood before him to let him have a look at what it's holding in the palms of its hands. "Friend. Doctor, Donna and Alice. Friend" he tells them in a way that their friends to them that they would not harm them. "Let me see. Look at me" he tries to get them to look getting them to gain his trust by looking him in the eye and he does. "Let me see. That's it. That's good. Go on" Then encourages it as it starts coming forward towards them before then opening its hand to show a small brain.

"Is that what I think it is?" Alice asks unsure what to think at this moment.

"It's a brain. A hindbrain. The Ood are born with a secondary brain" he starts to explain. "Like the amygdala in humans, it processes memory and emotions. You get rid of that, you wouldn't be Alice any more" he goes on to tell it's like that part of the human brain wich makes it feel and if it were removed it would make somebody nothing. "You'd be like an Ood, a processed Odd"

"So the company cuts off their brains" Donna figures out what they do with the brain.

"And they stitch on the translator" the Doctor says in anger at this now realising how it was done.

"Like a lobotomy" Alice says in anger.

"I spent all that time looking for you, Doctor. Because I guess I thought it was so wonderful out here. I want to go home" Donna tells the Doctor what she thought what it was going to be really like but now seeing it for what it was she had enough.

"Me too" Alice sides with her older sister agreeing that all this alien stuff and the strangeness of the watch it had all gotten too much for her to quickly.

The Doctor looks to them about to say something but it is too late before the guards have now made their entry. "What are you gonna do, then? Arrest me? Lock me up Throw me in a cage?" he then asks of them closing the gate being menacing pressing his face against the bars. "Well, you're too late. Ha!"

-Doctor Who-

But it never worked they were now tied up in Halpen's office by handcuffs wrapped around some poles Alice complains in a little pained noise as she's last to be done being placed on the other side of the Doctor. "Why don't you just come out and say it? Photo activists" Mr Halpen tries to get them to explain themselves.

"If that's what Friends of the Ood are trying to prove, then yes," the Doctor pretends to claim in reply that they work for the organisation.

"The Ood were nothing without us just animals roaming around on the ice" Mr Halpen claims that the aliens would be nothing without his company's help but it disgusted all three travelers to the very core.

"That's because you can't hear them," Alice tells the man through gritted teeth in anger.

"They welcomed it. It's not as if they put up a fight" Mr Halpen says the Ood let them take over without force.

"What an idiot you are," Alice points out the mans stupidity of what he can't see.

"They're born with their brains in their hands. Don't you see? That makes them peaceful" Donna points out to him.

"Yes, seeing as a creature like that of course it would trust anyone that it meets" Alice puts in still just as fuming as her sister.

"Oh, nice one" The Doctor praises both women for their choice of words.

"Thank you," they both say back that it wasn't a problem.

"The system's worked for 200 years. All we've got is a rogue batch" but Mr Halpen claims he doesn't see it that there should be anything wrong how he runs things or how the Ood are taken care of when something happens to them. "But the infection is about to be sterilised" but he tells that the problem is being taken care of.

"Mr Kess, how do we stand?" Mr Halpen asks through his communicator turning it up enough so the others could hear. "Canisters primed, sir. As soon as the core heats up, the gas is released. Give it 200 marks and counting"

"Your going to gas them?" He asks if Mr Halpen has gone mad about doing such a thing.

"Kill the livestock. The classic foot-and-mouth solution from the good olden days. Still works" he now tells them simply now he's going to kill all of them. But then before anymore is said the alarms start going off and all wonder what's causing it to happen not knowing there was now a full on battle outside between the guards and the Ood.

"What the hell?" Mr Halpen asks wondering what is going on as he leaves briefly to go outside to check what's happening. "Change of plan" Mr Halpen announces coming back from outside that his plan to get rid of the Ood by gasing them did work as well as he thought.

"No reports of trouble off-world, sir. It's still contained to the Ood Sphere" Mr Ryder tells there has been no problems nowhere else except here.

"Then we've got a public duty to stop it before it spreads" Mr Halpen then suggests that it needs to be stopped immediately.

"What's happening?" The Doctor asks keen to know their plan.

"Everything you wanted, Doctor. No doubt there will be a full police investigation once this place has been sterilised, so I can't risk a bullet to the head" he informs the Doctor that he's succeeded in what he's done but wasn't planing on getting blamed for this in the slightest. "I'll leave you to the mercies of the Ood" He tells them before then making his leave.

"But, Mr Halpen, there's something else, isn't there? Something we haven't seen" The Doctor grabs his attention seeing if there was something else to all of this another element tying it all together.

"What do you mean?" Donna asks trying to understand what he means.

"The creature couldn't survive with a separate forebrain and hindbrain, they'd be at war with themselves. There's got to be something else, a third element. Am I right?" the Doctor takes a guess seeing if he's right about it.

"And again, so clever" Mr Halpen praises him that he's correct.

"But it's got to be connected to the red eye. What is it?" he then asks wanting to know if the third element was connected to the Ood that was causing the red eye.

"It won't exist for very much longer" Mr Halpen marches up to him telling the Doctor that it would be destroyed before he even got to it.

"Enjoy your Ood" he tells to enjoy their gift of the Ood before then leaving with Mr Ryder and some guards. They start to struggle themselves out of the hand cuffs.

"Come on" the Doctor tells the sisters as they all continue to try and get out of them.

"Can't you do something," Alice sees if the Doctor has a plan to get them out of the handcuffs.

"You're the one with all the tricks. You must have met Houdini," Donna then wonders if of curiosity that he must have something to get them out of this.

"These are really good handcuffs" the Doctor implies how hard they are to get off.

"Oh, great that is. At least they've given us quality," Alice says sarcastically a little anger in her voice while trying to get out of the handcuffs before the door slides open making them all look to it seeing three red eyed Ood approaching them scaring them stiff.

"Uh, Doctor, Donna and Alice" the Doctor thinks up remembering how he gained the unprocessed Oods trust.

"Friends, friends" the young Noble calls out after the Doctor.

"The circle must be broken" Donna calls out reminding them what needs to be done to help them and they repeat this countless times trying to get through to them while struggling to get themselves free putting more panic in their voices as they got closer and closer.

And when the translator balls are inches away from their faces they finally stop after Donna speaks once more before bow over grabbing there heads as if they were in pain and Alice could hear it them singing once again making her watch heat up. It then stops the Ood looks up to them. "Doctor, Donna and Alice. Friends" it speaks to them.

"Yes! That's us! Friends! Oh, yes!" the Doctor says happily with relief.

"That's him" Donna says glad they knew who they were now.

"That us" Alice says in relief before getting the Ood to undo the handcuffs for them.

-Doctor Who-

Now that they were free there was one thing the Doctor needed to find the third element the very thing that connected all the Ood together. They run out into the full-blown battle between the Ood and the guards of the complex trying not to get hit by bullets as they went.

"I don't know where it is. I don't know where they've gone" the Doctor calls out unsure where to go or what to do to find Mr Halpen before it was too late.

"What are we looking for?" Donna asks seeing if there was anything specific they needed to find.

"It might be underground, like some sort of cave or cavern or..." he replies back still unsure of himself of where to go as they continue to look for any sign of where to go.

But then not long while not taking notice something explodes behind them making them all jump in the air ducking for cover landing them on the floor. "All right, both of you?" the Doctor asks seeing if they were hurt or not but both nod their heads that they were fine. But as the turn there through the mist they see Ood Sigma standing before them who leads them the way to Mr Halpen.

Finally now being show the way to a small warehouse by Ood Sigma they gain access to the building with help of the sonic rushing in as quickly as they could. Then coming to see a most glorious sight before them. "The Ood brain" the Doctor tells the sisters what it is they're seeing before them the giant brain surrounded by a field of electricity. And the singing hits Alice and this time it's the most beautiful thing she's heard.

"Now it all makes sense. That's the missing link. The third element binding them together" he now understands this is the last part of the puzzle for the Ood to be free. "Forebrain, hindbrain and this. The telepathic centre. It's a shared mind" he tells of the three things that join the aliens together making this all work as one. "Connecting all the Ood in song" he goes on to tell how it makes all the Ood sing.

A click of a gun is then heard Mr Halpen coming out from the shadows pointing it at them making Alice stand behind the Doctor. "Cargo. I could always go into cargo. I've got the rockets, I've got the sheds. Smaller business. Much more manageable. Without livestock" Mr Halpen suggests what he would change his company to.

"He's mined the area" Dr Ryder points out to the Doctor what he's done.

"They're going to kill it" Donna says sadden by the thought.

"They found that thing centuries ago beneath the northern glacier" Mr Halpen tells them when it got discovered.

"Those pylons" the Doctor points out to the things around the giant brain making Alice understand what the Ood were trying to say all along noticing the shape of it.

"In a circle. The circle must be broken" she says knowing it now made sense.

"Dampening the telepathic field. Stopping the Ood from connecting for 200 years" The Doctor explains how it stopped the Ood from communicating with each other.

"And you, Ood Sigma, you brought them here. I expected better" Mr Halpen looks to him thinking he was now being betrayed by his own servant.

"My place is at your side, sir" Sigma says that he's still by his side coming over to him.

"Still subservient. Good Ood" he praises Sigma for his good service to him.

"If that barrier thing's in place, how come the Ood started breaking out?" the older Noble wonders how they got like how they are now.

"Maybe it's taken centuries to adapt, subconscious reaching out" he replies to Donna implying that it must have taken many years for it to happen.

But the process was too slow, had to be accelerated" Dr Ryder then starts to explain coming up to Mr Halpen. "You should have never given me access to the controls, Mr Halpen. I lowered the barrier to its minimum" he goes on to tell this was his doing. "Friends of the Ood, sir. It's taken me ten years to infiltrate the company. And I succeeded" he finally reveals who he's part of being under the company radar all those years to reach his goal.

"Yes. Yes, you did" Mr Halpen pretending not to sound surprised whatsoever about it then without warning tosses him over the edge of the fencing and the Doctor is never in time to save him as he lands on the centre of the brain laying there a few seconds before being absorbed by it.

"You murdered him" Alice says now looking over to him not believing what she's just saw.

"Very observant, Blondie" he praises her pointing the gun at her but the Doctor grabs hold of her bringing her behind him to keep her safe.

"Now then..." he starts looking at the gun in his hand. "Can't say I've ever shot anyone before. Can't say I'm going to like it" he says unsure if he would like shooting anyone. "But it's not exactly a normal day, is it?" he asks that how today has been so unexpected. "Still.." he goes on to point the gun before interrupted by Ood Sigma who was now standing in his way.

"Would you like a drink, sir?" he offers him a drink.

"I think hair loss is the least of my problems right now, thanks" Mr Halpen passes off kindly not wanting it now.

"Please have a drink, sir" Sigma offers once again.

"If...If you're going to stand in their way, I'll shoot you, too" he stammers a little his voice now sounding a little odd not wanting the Ood in his way.

"Please have a drink, sir" Sigma ties to offer once again.

"Have...Have you poisoned me?" Mr Halpen asks if he's been harmed by the Ood.

"Natural Ood must never kill, sir" Sigma implies that it's never right of a Ood to harm others.

"What is that stuff?" the Doctor asks Sigma what was contained in the cup of fluid that he's trying to offer.

"Ood graft suspended in a biological compound, sir" he replies to the Doctor.

"What the hell does that mean?" Mr Halpen asks not understanding what he was trying to say.

"Oh, dear!" the Doctor looks who raises his eyebrows in realisation to what he's been giving Mr Halpen that he was being turned into a Ood.

"Tell me!" Mr Halpen demands.

"Funny thing, the subconscious. Takes all sorts of shapes. Came out in the red eyes' revenge, came out in the rabid Oods' anger, and then there was patience" the Doctor explains how it showed how they felt. "All that intelligence and mercy focused on Ood Sigma" the Doctor tells of how smart Ood Sigma had become to know how to do this to him. "How's the hair loss, Mr Halpen?" he then asks about the mans hair as he goes to check it pulling some of it out.

"What have you done?" he asks Sigma what's happening to him hands now shaking a little.

"Oh, they've been preparing you for a very long time" the Doctor deduces that it's been a long time coming. "And now you're standing next to the Ood brain. Mr Halpen, can you hear it?" he then wonders if he can hear the singing from the brain getting him to hear it. "Listen"

Mr Halpen's head turns to look at the Ood brain now knowing full well he can hear it but wouldn't accept it. "What have you...I'm not..." he tries to get the words out but can't and shakes a little more before the gun slips from his grip onto the floor, his face going emotionless. He bends over pulling his scalp away revealing the top of a Ood's head, tentacles shooting out of his mouth as his face transforms into that of an Ood.

Witnessing this made Alice and Donna unsure yet disgusted to what just happened. "They...They turned him into an Ood?" Alice implies asking a little speechless.

"Yup" the Doctor replies simply popping the 'p' knowing what she was pointing out.

"He's an Ood!" Donna exclaims.

"I noticed" he says in a way he knows.

Before then the Mr Halpen Ood groans in pain a little before sneezing out the brain. "He has become Ood-kind, and we will take care of him" Ood Sigma now says he will now take responsibility of him now.

"It's weird. Being with you, I can't tell what's right and what's wrong any more" Donna tells the Doctor now she's unsure of what she's doing.

"Me either" Alice agrees rubbing the side of her head trying to get rid of the pain starting there.

"It's better that way. People who know for certain tend to be like Mr Halpen" the there are others like the former man who was Mr Halpen out there then the alarms for the detonators go off making the Doctor rush over to turn them off.

"And now, Sigma, would you allow me the honour?" he now goes to the machine nearby before then asking permission to turn it off.

"It is yours, Doctor" Ood Sigma welcomes it.

"Oh, yes!" the Doctor shouts excitedly before turning to it. "Stifled for 200 years, but not any more. The circle is broken. The Ood can sing!" the Doctor announces before flicking the switch letting the beautiful singing be heard.

"I can hear it!" Donna laughs in joy at hearing it properly now.

-Doctor Who-

Now the travellers were back in the snowy mountains where they left the TARDIS along with the Ood to bid them farewell. "The message has gone out. That song resonated across the galaxies. Everyone heard it. Everyone knows" the Doctor tells them it was heard by everyone far and wide. "The rockets are bringing them back. The Ood are coming home" and that they were coming back to where they belong.

"We thank you, Doctor, Donna and Alice, friends of Ood-kind," Ood Sigma thanks them for saving his people. "And what of you now? Will you stay?" he asks if they are staying any longer. "There is room in the song for you"

"Oh, I...I've sort of got a song of my own, thanks," the Doctor passes the offer not wanting to get more involved than he already has and wanted to get on.

"I think your song must end soon" Ood Sigma tells the Doctor.

"Meaning?" the Doctor wonders what he means by it.

"Every song must end" he puts in reply a way the Doctor understands but he's still unsure what Ood Sigma is telling him.

"Um, what about you? You still both want to go home?" he clears his throat looking to Alice and Donna asking if they were still staying or not.

"No. Definitely not" the older Noble replies that she isn't.

"Oh, I'm staying," the younger Noble replies.

"Then we'll be off" he announces they are leaving to the Ood.

"Take this song with you" Ood Sigma gives them the gift of a song to remeber them by.

"We will" Donna accepts.

"Always" so does the Doctor.

"And know this, Doctor, Donna and Alice, you will never be forgotten. Our children will sing of the Doctor, Donna and Alice, and our children's children, and the wind and the ice and the snow will carry your names forever" Ood Sigma tells them that they'd never ever be forgotten.

Now entering the TARDIS overwhelmed by it all Alice suddenly didn't feel right at that moment stepping through the door she felt her head was on fire like the time in Pompeii but much worse as she gripped on to the railing tightly closing her eyes because it hurt. The Doctor nor Donna hadn't noticed she'd not moved as the Doctor sent the time machine into the vortex.

"Right where to next both of you?" he asks both of them, but before there's even an answer there's a whimper of pain followed by the sound of something heavy dropping to the floor from behind them.

The Doctor and Donna turn to see Alice lying unconscious on the floor by the doors rushing over to her seeing a pained expression over her face. "Al? Alice, can you hear me?" Donna kneels beside her sister placing her head on her lap stroking her hair.

Before the Doctor could say anything he catches a glimmer of something hanging around Alice's neck, something familiar to him. A gift he gave to a dear friend that he thought was long lost since the Time War. A small round locket with an intricate carving of her name. Thinking that this was impossible that he should have noticed it straight away. When in Pompeii Lucius mentioned the return of someone dear to him.

He thought he was the last of his kind but not anymore. But here she was before him, the last Time Lady in existence. His best friend Ariana.


	4. The Sontaran Stratagem

**The Sontaran Stratagem**

 **Disclaimer:** OC Alice/Ariana are mine the rest are BBC.

It had been a couple of days since the Doctor discovered about his dear friend Ariana; aka Alice Noble. After shepassed out due to the amount pressure on her brain from what he had found out was from Time Lord abilities a human couldn't possibly use. But it broke him that he had to lie to the young woman, telling her that it was just exhaustion and a bad migraine. The Time Lord needed time to think things over about how he was going to break it to her about who and what she really was. Also there was the rest of her family to think about aswell.

Bring his thoughts back to the present the Doctor was letting Donna have ago at driving the TARDIS, while the other two watched, one in amusement and the other concerned. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she says enjoying it way too much.

"No. Neither can I," The Doctor says now thinking it was a bad idea for to let her have go.

"Me neither and to think it took her twelve times to pass her driving test," Alice tells about how long it took Donna to get her driving licence.

"Twelve really?" he asks her surprised how long it took the older Noble. Alice then nodding in reply.

"Whoa, whoa, careful," he helps her keep control by banging the bell on the console with a mallet and flicking the lever up next to it. "Left hand down. Left hand down!" he tells her but only gets through to her the second time he tells her frantically as she now pulls down with said hand making the ship jolt a little harshly making most nearly lose there balance. "Getting a bit too close to the 1980s," he tells her she was getting a bit too close to that time period.

"What am I gonna do, put a dent in 'em?" Donna asks sarcastically taking offence that she was not doing it right.

"Someone did," he mutters know well that was him that done that.

It was then after a few seconds that there's a ringing of a phone and in that instant the Doctor knows only of one person that could be calling. While Alice and Donna wonder where the sound is coming from. "Hold on...that's a phone!" Donna points out what the noise is as the Doctor goes round to take it out of the holder and stares at it not sure if he wanted to answer it or not.

"You've had a mobile? Since when?" Alice asks the Doctor surprised for somebody like him to one.

"It's not mine," he informed her that the mobile doesn't belong to him, hence why he had such a worried expression on his face before then flipping it open and accepting the call before sitting on the jump seat to reply to the call. "Hello."

-Doctor Who-

The TARDIS starts to materialize, the sound of the familiar engine filled the air. One that Martha Jones knew rather well as she now turned to see the blue box fully appear before her a grin on her face. And out steps the Doctor, looking for the young woman before he sees her standing a few meters away. As they now notice each other not sure what to do. While Alice and Donna let him have his moment to reconnect with the woman he had told them about.

"Martha Jones," The Doctor speaks her name for the first time in ages since he last said it to her.

"Doctor," she says before they then start walking towards each other slowly being cautious at first before then grinning silly and lifts her up into a hug. Before then laughing a little and put's her back down.

"You haven't changed a bit," he tells her she was still as he remembered her.

"Neither have you," Martha points the same out about him.

"How's the family?" he then asks if her family is ok. "You know, not so bad. Recovering" she then tell him they were all right but getting better.

"What about you?" The Doctor then asks if everything was all right with her before Alice and Donna come out of the Tardis the younger closing the door behind them as now being noticed over the Doctor's shoulder by Martha.

"Right. I should've known. Didn't take you long to replace me then," she looks to both women then back to the Doctor playfully hitting him on the arm.

"Now, don't start fighting," he then tells Martha in a hushed tone to behave herself. "Martha, Donna and Alice. Donna and Alice, Martha," he now introduces the women to each other., "Please don't fight. I can't bear fighting," he then tells them to be friendly to each other.

"You wish," the older Noble chuckles in the likely event that would never happen.

Then both shake Martha's hand Donna first then Alice, "We've heard all about you. He talks about you all the time," mentioning the older Noble that he's told her and her sister about Martha.

"I dread to think" she says back hoping nothing bad was said of her.

"No, no, no. He's said nice things, good things. Nice things. Really good things," the younger implies that not a bad word was said of Martha.

"Oh, my God! He's told you everything" Martha then feels slightly embarrassed about the fact that they knew about when she fancied the Doctor aswell.

"Didn't take long to get over it, though," Donna points out that she seemed to have now gotten over the Doctor seeing an engagement ring on her left hand. "Who's the lucky man?" she then asks.

"What man? The lucky what?" the Doctor gets a little confused to what they are talking about.

"She's engaged, pay attention would you," Alice tells him while trying to get him to focus on the Martha's news who now flashes the ring on her hand in front of him now getting it.

"Really? Who to?" he then asks getting it now wondering who the lucky fella was.

"Tom. That Tom Milligan. He's in paediatrics," she tells him who it's the man she met from that year they were apart, "Working out in Africa right now, and yes, I know, I've got a doctor who disappears off to distant places, "Tell me about it," say now she's got a doctor of her own that travels.

"Is he skinny?" Donna asks if Tom is similar build to the Doctor.

"No. He's sort of strong," she tells in reply while thinking of him.

"He is too skinny for words. You give him a hug, you get a paper cut," the older Noble jokes about the Doctor's weight making them both laugh making him feel a little offended by it.

"I don't think your that skinny," Alice compliments the Doctor in a whisper so the other three don't hear thinking that she found how he looked was somewhat attractive in someway and tried not to blush when she said it hoping none of them heard her.

"Oh, I thought you were fighting," the Doctor complains thinking they would have a go at each other.

"No. Speaking of which..." Martha starts as a walkie-talkie speaks for her attention.

"Dr Jones, report to base, please. Over," the woman calls to see if everything is in order.

"This is Dr Jones. Operation Blue Sky is go, go, go. I repeat this is a go," she reports back through the walkie-talkie indeed that everything is order now ahead of the Doctor, Alice and Donna who were left to walk behind her.

As they came out behind the building they saw soldiers, military grade vehicles along with a black lorry. "Unified Intelligence Task Force. Raise that barrier now," a solider commands to let them through then get to the factory getting all the workers to surrender while Martha was commanding this that to others through her walkie-talkie. While the Doctor, Alice and Donna follow her.

"What are you looking for?" the Time Lord asks Martha what all this commotion of raiding a factory with soldiers was in aid of.

"Illegal aliens," she tells him what it was all this was for before leaving them to help get everything under control. And what the Doctor had told of Martha to both the sister's she didn't seem like how she was anymore she was different more confident and assertive in herself like she was trying to impress somebody like the Doctor.

"Is this what you did turn her into a solider?" Alice asks if this change in Martha was his doing but he was unsure what to say in reply to this.

-Doctor Who-

Now Martha comes back over to them now that everything was under control the Doctor now noticing on the young woman's ID badge. "You're qualified now? You're a proper doctor?" he points out rather happy she was a doctor now like she wanted.

"UNIT rushed it through, given my experience in the field," she tell that the task force ran it through knowing how much she has done. "Here we go. We're establishing a field base on site," Martha informs them that they would be working from here. "They're are dying to meet you" she tells the Doctor that they can't wait to see him again but the Time Lord was less enthused about it.

"Wish I could say the same," he mutters not really looking forward to it as they all now step into the black lorry that was extended out to the side.

"Operation Blue Sky complete, sir. Thanks for letting me take the lead," the young doctor thanks her commander coming after coming through the Doctor and the two Nobles not far behind her. "And this is the Doctor," Martha now introduces him, "Doctor, Colonel Mace," she introduces the Doctor to the man in uniform.

"Sir," he salutes the Time Lord but he hated it now when they did that.

"Oh, don't salute," telling Colonel Mace to put his hand down taking offence of it.

"But it's an honour, sir. I've read all the files on you. Technically speaking your still on staff. You never resigned," he informs him that how great it was to have him here and done research on him. Also that he was still part of the co-operation.

"What? You used to work for them?" Donna then asks a little surprised that he used to be part of UNIT.

"Yeah, a long time ago. Back in the '70s. Or was it the '80s?" he tells here in reply that it was a different part of his life back then not being able to recall what time period it was. "But it was all a bit more homespun back then," he tells them how he remembers how different it all was when he worked for them.

"Times have changed, sir" The Colonel informs him that it has come a long way since his days with UNIT.

"That's enough of the 'sir'" the Doctor tells him stop calling him that as he didn't feel comfortable with the term.

"Yeah, that's enough of the 'sir'" he agrees telling the man to stop calling him that particular thing as he found it annoying.

"Come on now, Doctor. You've seen it. You've been on board the Valiant," Martha reminds him of the vessel they had been on together.

"We've got massive funding from the United Nations, all in the name of Homeworld Security," then informs him of the help they get from some very powerful people, "A modern UNIT for the modern world," the Colonel implies that it was best to keep it up with the world today.

"What, and that means arresting ordinary factory workers, in the street in broad daylight?" Donna then asks if that was right what they just did out there.

"It's more like Guantanamo Bay out there. Donna. By the way, Donna and Alice Noble, since you didn't ask. We'll have a salute," She then points out how bad it is out there before then asking for a salute and Mace looks to the Doctor seeing if he should or not and nods his head that he should do it.

"Ma'am's," Colonel Mace now salutes Donna while Alice tried to not laugh at the situation.

"So tell me, what's going on in the factory?" the Doctor asks about the factory wanting to know what was going on.

"Yesterday, 52 people died in identical circumstances, right across the world, in 11 different time zones," the Colonel then replies to the Doctor informing him of what has happened.

"5am in the UK, 6am in France, 8am in Moscow, 1pm in China..." the Colonel then tells him of the times the deaths happened on the screen.

"You mean they died simultaneously?" Alice then asked finding it rather odd indeed how that many people died at the same moment in different places. While the Doctor like before got annoyed when she took his words but this time he really didn't care in slightest.

"Exactly 52 deaths at the exact same moment worldwide," Mace replied to the young woman.

"How did they die?" the Time Lord asks what caused the people's deaths. "They were all inside their cars," the Colonel tells him.

"They were poisoned. I checked the biopsies, no toxins. Whatever it is left the system immediately," the Martha tells what else the cause of the deaths was a poison that disappeared after death wich made the Doctor rather interested indeed.

"What have the cars got in common?" the Doctor asks if there were anything similar about the cars.

"Completely different makes. They're all fitted with Atmos. And that is the Atmos factory" Martha replies to him that the cars are different makes but all had this system then nods to where the factory is.

"What is Atmos?" the Doctor asks wanting to know what it was.

"Well, come on, even I know that. Everyone's got Atmos," Donna then tells him she knows what it is so does the planet.

-Doctor Who-

"It stands for Atmospheric Omission System. The Atmos in you car reduces CO2 emissions to zero" Martha now tells the Doctor what it means and what it does to the a car as they walk across above the factory floor.

"Zero? No carbon, none at all?" the Doctor asks rather impressed by it.

"And you get a Sat Nav thrown in, plus twenty quid in shopping vouchers if you introduce a friend," Donna imput about the freebies that came with it.

"Bargain," Alice put simply how cheap it seems to be.

"And this is where they make it, Doctor. Shipping worldwide. Seventeen factories across the globe, but this is the central depot, sending Atmos to every country on Earth," Mace now explains showing the factory floor below them where workers are getting lined up.

"And you think Atmos is alien?" the Doctor asks if they knew if it was alien or not.

"It's our job to investigate that possibility. Doctor?" then Mace replies that it needs to be looked into more clearly before getting him to follow his lead.

They were now on the factory floor being taken to be shown the Atmos system so the Doctor could have a proper look at the object itself. "And here it is, laid bare," Mace points out the silver object on the plastic replica of an engine after coming through the plastic curtains.

"Atmos can be threaded through any and every make of car," Mace then goes on to explain about it's use.

"You must of checked it before it went on sale," the Doctor then wonders aloud if it got checked before being released to the public.

"We did. We found nothing," but Martha informs him that they had not found anything suspicious at that time. "That's why I thought we needed an expert," she then tells him being none the wiser that she's talking about him.

"Really? Who'd you get?" He then asks who they are slipping on his glasses that Alice found rather attractive when he had them on and turns to see them looking at him giving him the hint.

"Oh, right! Me, yes. Good," he says now knowing it was him. Then Mace and Martha leave them for a bit.

"Ok, so why would aliens be so keen on cleaning up our atmosphere?" Donna now asks the Doctor now coming over to him wondering there has to be something odd about this.

"A very good question," the Doctor tells he that it was a well thought out question as he looked at the Sat Nav.

"Maybe they want help, get rid of pollution and stuff," Alice suggests that they maybe want to help Earth.

"Do you know how many cars there are on planet Earth?" he asks the sisters, "Eight hundred million. Imagine that. If you could control them, you'd have eight hundred million weapons," but is too quick and answers for them about what danger it would cause if all the cars are weapons. But unknown to them in the basement there was strange things going on. Not only that things were about to get way more dangerous than they realised.

While Donna had told Alice she was going to have snoop around the offices so she stayed with the Doctor, Martha and Colonel Mace. "Ionising nano-membrane carbon dioxide converter, which means Atmos works, filters the CO2 at the molecular level," he explains holding the device while Alice frowns not understanding a word of it but admiring him for how smart he was. And also how distracting his hair was thinking about wanting to run her hands through it blushing at the thought before shaking her head wondering when it entered her head. But not realising Martha seemed to of noticed it remembering how she used to look at the Doctor like that.

"We know all that. But what's its origin Is it alien?" the Colonel asked the Doctor if he could tell him anything more as the Time Lord went back over to the replica engine putting it back on top.

"No, but it's decades ahead of its time," the Doctor replies it's not but then starts to get uncomfortable with the Colonel nearby him as he had a gun. "Look, do you mind? Could you stand back a bit?" he asks of him.

"Sorry. Have I done something wrong?" Colonel Mace asks wondering if he was offending the Doctor in some way.

"You're carrying a gun," the Doctor points out in reply a little on edge, "I don't like people with guns hanging around me, all right?" he informs the Colonel.

"If you insist," he then understands leaving the room passing the young Noble who was watching from the side surprised at the Doctor's behaviour towards the man who he was helping.

"Tetchy," Martha points out how annoyed he was being about having the Colonel near him.

"Well, it's true," he says in a way that he couldn't help it.

"He's a good man," she tells him firmly Mace means no harm to him now as he picks up the Atmos and scans it with his sonic.

"People with guns are usually the enemy in my books. You seem quite at home," he tells her how he sees it that she was used to it.

"If anyone got me used to fighting, it's you," but tells him that it was him that taught her this.

"Oh, right. So it's my fault," he then says back sarcastically thinking he was to blame still scanning the Atmos.

"Well, you got me the job. Besides, look at me," Martha then implies it was him that got her in with UNIT and gets him to look. "Am I carrying a gun?" she asks him if she looked armed now turning off his sonic to look.

"I suppose not," he says after looking.

"It's all right for you. You can just come and go, but some of us have got to stay behind" Alice then hears Martha point out making the young woman wonder would the Doctor just leave her and Donna behind one day and just forget them let them get on with there lives it hurt to think about it. "So I've got to work from the inside. And by staying inside, maybe I stand a chance of making them better" Martha tells him she could help them out being here.

"Yeah," he agrees a big smile now appearing on his face, "That's more like Martha Jones," the Doctor says happily to see that side of her that he thought was gone.

"I learnt from the best," Martha points out.

"Well..." the Doctor starts to say rather taken by her comment before then Donna shows up.

"Oi, you lot," she gets the attention of the room and Colonel Mace who comes back through. "All your storm troopers and sonics, rubbish" she tells that nothing they could do would help. "You should've come with me" telling in a way that sounded interesting to her.

"Oh, where have you been?" the Doctor asked wondering where she had gotten to.

"Personnel. That's where the weird stuffs happening. In the paperwork. 'Cause I spent years working as a temp, I can find myself around an office blindfold. And the first thing I noticed is an empty file" Donna explains her office experience before showing the file to them.

"Why, what's inside it?" the Doctor asks.

"What's not inside it?" the young Noble asks seeing nothing in it. Donna then shows the spine of the folder.

"Sick days," she speaks said name on it before then opening it showing it to be entirely empty. "There aren't any. Hundreds of people working here and no one's sick. Not one hangover, man 'flu, sneaky little shopping trip. Nothing. Not ever. They don't get ill," Donna tells how odd this all is.

"That can't be right," the Colonel comes to get the folder from Donna, "You've been checking out the building, you should've been checking out the workforce," Donna tells that they should have done a more thorough job.

"I can see why he likes you. You are good," Martha now rather impressed of Donna.

"Super temp," she jokes cheerily.

"Dr jones, set up a medical post. Start examining the workers. I'll get them sent through," the Mace now orders Martha handing the folder to her, "Come on, Donna, Alice. Give me a hand," she asks of the Nobles assistance while the Doctor leaves with Mace.

-Doctor Who-

Donna now places a chair by the desk Martha was at and Alice leaned on the wall near it, "Do you think I should warm our mum? About the Atmos in her car," the younger Noble asks Martha with concern for both of their mothers safety.

"Better safe than sorry," Martha replies thinking it would be a good idea.

"I'll give her a call," Donna then suggests she call her Alice now moving off the wall wanting to also speak to her mother as she can't remember the last time she heard her voice . The sisters almost leave the room before Martha catches them.

"Donna, Alice, do they know where you both are? Your family? I mean, that you're travelling with the Doctor?" she asks both of the women if there family knew where they are.

"Not really," Alice replies guilty of not telling her mother where she was.

"No. Although granddad sort of waved us off. But we didn't have time to explain," Donna then replies feeling just as guilty as her sister. "You just left him behind?" she asks them both.

"Yeah," they both reply sadly.

"I didn't tell my family. I kept it all so secret. It almost destroyed them" Martha tells how she hid it from her family that it hurt them.

"In what way?" Donna asks wanting to know.

"They ended up imprisoned. They were tortured. My mum, my dad, my sister," she then replies explains how bad it got leaving the women shocked, "It wasn't the Doctor's fault, but you need to be careful," but put's it right that it wasn't his doing, "Cause' you know the Doctor. He's wonderful, he's brilliant, but he's like fire. Stand too close and people get burnt," Martha warns them not to get to attached to him for he harms people's lives.

Alice and Donna agreed seeing as they weren't far from home, that a visit was in order to collect their thoughts. Whether they still wanted to continue their travels with the Doctor. They both go looking for him and find him in the loading bay after Colonel Mace walks past them with an annoyed look on his face.

"Doctor," the younger gets his attention as he now sees them coming down the ramp coming up it to grab both there hands an excited look on his face.

"Oh, just in time both of you. Come on. Come on, we're going to the country," he starts to pull them with him to the Jeep. "Fresh air and geniuses. What more could you ask?" he tells and asks them excitedly hoping that would like it aswell. But the she stops him getting him to look at her and Donna who was standing behind her.

"We're not coming with you," she informs him sadly speaking for herself and her sister, "Me and Donna have been talking and I'm sorry but we're going home," she puts to him nicely as possibly as she could.

"Really?" he asks a little taken back by this news from the sisters.

"We got to" Donna then says.

"Well, if that's what you want," he says if this was their plan even not catching on just yet that they were just only going home.

"I mean it's a bit soon. I had so many places I wanted to you both" he tells them sad they were going but had so much more for them to see. "The Fifteenth Broken Moon of the Medusa Cascade. The lightning skies of Cotter Palluni's world. The Diamond Coral Reefs of Kataa Flo Ko" he the tells of the places he wants them to see. "Thank you, Donna and Alice Noble. It's been brilliant. You've... you both have saved my life in so many ways" he tells them how grateful he is but inside was hurting a little that he might ever see Ariana again. But then the young woman is trying to will herself not burst into giggles. "You're...You're just popping home for a visit that's what you mean" the Doctor then realises this isn't a found farewell.

Donna and Alice nod their heads. "You dumbo," the older says mocking him.

"And then you're coming back," he then says understanding now.

"You know what you are? A great, big, outer-space dunce" the young now points out for fun he's not as smart as he thought he was.

"Yeah," he then agrees.

"I think I'll make you hat just to make my point," Alice then says making fun even more.

"Now then that's going to far," he points out not needing any more stick about it.

"Ready when you are, sir," the young UNIT soldier sees if the Doctor is ready.

"What's more, you can give us a lift. Come on," Donna points out Alice goes to get in the back. "Broken Moon of what?" Donna then asks confused about one of the places he mentioned.

"I know. I know," he replies back getting in after her knowing he was being silly at the time before they then set off unknown to them that two of the guards had been put under the control of a deadly force. And Martha would soon be in danger too.

-Doctor Who-

They arrive at the street that was the home of Alice and Donna the Doctor getting out to let older out the front and going to the younger out the back. "We'll walk the rest of the way" Donna tells to leave both of them here. "See you back at the factory, ok?" she asks that they will meet later.

"Bye," the Doctor bids to them getting in closing the door.

"And be careful!" Alice calls to behave himself.

"Aren't I always!" he called back cheekily giving her a wink before then driving off leaving the young woman blushing slightly.

"This is weird, I feel like we haven't been here for weeks," Alice now tells her sister looking down their street.

"I know me too," she agrees with her before they start walking down it an old woman who lives in their street sees them passing.

"Haven't seen you two for days," she points it's been ages since seeing them.

"Been away," Donna tells here both of the sisters smile at her before she then goes on.

Then a little blonde boy comes out kicking about with his football and both sisters forgot how normal that was to see such a thing being thankful for the life they have. They go back remembering everything that's happened to them the most amazing and beautiful things they have seen and done since joining the then they breaking from their memory's they see him their good old granddad coming out the house brining out the rubbish before he then spots his two granddaughters from afar. He waves to them seeing if their really here Alice gasps in happiness and so does Donna before they go into a run towards him before then giving them a hug so glad that he was to see them again.

"I said so, didn't I? Aliens! I said, they was real, " About an hour later there granddad was just excited about it actually being true now as they had tea and biscuits, "I just didn't expect them to come in a blue box," But think all spaceships were like the one the girls have been in.

"It's bigger on the inside," Donna tells it's deceiving how it looks from the outside.

"Yeah, but is it safe? This Doctor. Are you both safe with him? then he asks out of concern that this man was protecting them.

"He's amazing gramps," Donna tells him first in reply.

"He's just dazzling," then the younger replies blushing just thinking of him, "And never tell him we said any on this," Alice gets him not to say a word of this to the Doctor.

"No," he promises he won't.

"But I trust him with our lives" Donna tells that she and Alice believe the Doctor would not betray them.

"Hold up. I thought that was my job," there granddad says offended a little.

"You still come first gramps," Alice tells him that he always top priority.

"For God's sake, don't tell you mother either of you," granddad says it would be best not for her to know about this.

"I don't know. I mean, this is massive," Donna then tells him it's kind of a big deal.

"It's sort of not being fair on mum if she doesn't know," Alice points out how hard it would be to keep this secret and it made them both feel guilty.

"Doesn't know what? And who's she? The cat's mother?" their mother asks coming in with the washing wanting know what they are not telling her and starts folding the washing.

"And where have you been these past few days, lady?" she asks Donna.

"After that silly little trick with the car keys, I phoned Veena and she said she hadn't seen hide nor hair," She then goes on not happy with Donna in the slightest.

"And you too young lady disappearing off the face of the Earth, I've been worried sick," She tells her younger daughter she has not seen her either making Alice feel like she should of called her tell her she was ok.

"We've been... travelling," she informs her mother somewhat truthfully, "Oh, hark at you both, Michael Palin now are we. Are you staying for tea? 'Cause I haven't got anything in. I've been trying to keep your granddad on that macrobiotic diet but he sneaks off and gets pork pies at the petrol station," She the mocks before waffling on about grandad cheating on his diet.

He tries to protest about it but it dose him no good, "Don't deny it. I've seen the wrappers in the car. Oh, I don't miss a trick," she tells him off before he and his two granddaughters share a knowing smile that this was so her moaning from dusk till dawn, "Now then, what were you both gonna tell me? What don't I know?" she asks her first question from before looking to her daughters. "Nothing. Just...nothing," Donna replies that it wasn't something to bother her with. "Good. Right, then. You can both sit there and cut out those coupons. Every penny helps. This new mortgage won't pay for itself. Dad, kettle on," She moves on from it getting the girls to help her out while grandad done the tea.

-Doctor Who-

I was about an hour or so later that the Doctor had a run in with the aliens behind helping the young boy destroy the Earth were the Sontarans. And nearly getting himself killed in the Jeep that had the Atmos installed. Now here he was at the Noble's front door ringing the door bell. And young Alice is the one to answer the door opening to very stressed out looking Doctor.

"You alright Doctor,?" She looks him over.

"Alice, you would not believe the day I'm having," he tells her a sounding little worse for wear.

It was then ten minutes or so later that he examines the family's car looking under it tapping the Atmos device under the car before then coming back up to open the bonnet of the blue car while Donna tried to get hold of Martha on her mobile. "I'll requisition us a vehicle" the solider Alice learned was named Ross suggests in getting different transport.

"Anything without ATMOS. And don't point your gun at people," the Doctor calls to him before the young man charges off.

"Is it him? Is it him? Is it the Doctor?" Wilf asks in excitement coming out of the house seeing if said man was here as he approaches noticing the man under the bonnet of the car immediately. "Ah, it's you!" He calls in recognition.

"Who?" Asks the Doctor before looking up from under the car bonnet remembering the man instantly from Christmas last year. "Oh... it's you!" He recalls coming over to where Alice and Donna were with him.

"What, have you met before?" the older asks shocked by this.

"Yeah, Christmas Eve. He disappeared right in front of me," He replies telling her when.

"And you never said?!" Donna surprised he never told her about this.

"Well, you never said," he informs her she never told about the Doctor at that time, "Wilf, sir. Wilfred Mott. You must be one of them aliens," he then introduces himself to the Doctor and excited by the fact of him being from outer space.

"Well, yeah, but don't shout it out," the Doctor says he is what Wilf says but not want others to hear, "Nice to meet you properly, Wilf," he now shakes the mans hand kindly before going back to the car.

"Ah, an alien hand," the older man speaks excited of shaking the Doctor's hand.

"Donna, anything?" He looks to her seeing if Martha picked up yet.

"She's not answering. What's it, 'Sonterruns'?" She says there's no luck yet but asks about the aliens getting the name wrong.

"It's Sontarans dummy," Alice corrects her.

"But there's got to be more to it. They can't be just remote-controlling cars. That's not enough," He wonders aloud that there has to be something tying all this together, "Is anyone answering?" He checks again about getting through to Martha.

"Hold on," she then puts her finger up saying Martha has now answered, "Martha, hold on, he's here," She then passes the mobile to the Doctor.

"Martha, tell Col Mace it's the Sontarans. They're in the file, Code Red Sontarans. But if they're inside the factory, tell him not to start shooting, UNIT will get massacred. I'll get back as soon as I can. You got that?" the Doctor asks of her to warn the Colonel not realising he's talking to her clone who would not pass on the message.

He was now back under the bonnet if the car with the sonic screwdriver out and glasses on searching for a clue, "You've tried sonicing it before. You didn't find anything," Donna mentions that he already tried using the sonic.

"Yeah, but now I know it's Sontaran, I know what I'm looking for," he informs her.

"The thing is, Doctor, that Donna and Alice are my only grandchildren. You gotta promise me you're gonna take care of them," Wilf wants the Doctors word of protecting them.

"More like Donna takes care of him," Alice points out.

"Oh, yeah, that's my Donna. She was always bossing us around even when she was tiny. 'The Little General' we used to call her," the older man recalls how she was then as a child.

"Yeah. Don't start," she tells him not to embarrass her.

"And some of the boys she used to turn up with, a different one every week," he goes on.

"Yeah some of them were right weird," Alice recalls.

"Here. Who was that one with the nail varnish?" he asks about.

"Matthew Richards. He lives in Kilburn now...with a man" she tells him. It's then when the Doctor triggers the plate to have spikes appear.

"Whoa! It's a temporal pocket I knew there was something else in there," he now says glad of what he's discovered. "It's hidden just a second out of sync with real-time" he tells the others.

"But what's it hiding?" Donna asks that there had to be something else.

"I don't know. Men and their cars," the girl's mother comes out to see what's going on. "Sometimes I think if I was a car..,." she starts to imply.

"Mum really" Alice moans in disgust at her, everyone else looking at her. Then their mother notices who the man under the bonnet is. "Oh, it's you. Doctor, what was it?" she asks not really that pleased to see him.

"Yeah, that's me," he waves to her while once again sonicing the car not paying attention.

"What have you met him as well?" Granddad Wilf asks surprised by this.

"Dad, it's the man from the wedding when you were laid up with Spanish 'flu" she tells him but he obviously forgot about it. "I'm warning you. Last time that man turned up, it was a disaster" she tells him that bad things happen when he's around then as if on cue the Doctor activates something as it now emits smoke.

"Get back," he tells them getting them away from it slightly meaning the smoke might be dangerous. Now the Doctor not knowing that his actions would now cause utter chaos across the of Earth. "That'll stop it" the Doctor stops the smoke coming from the point the sonic at making it spark before going out completely.

"I told you. He's blown up the car," the mother complains he's damaged it, "Who is he anyway? What sort of Doctor blows up cars?" she then asks thinking he was crazy person.

"Oh, not now, Mum," Donna tells her to leave be.

"Yeah, Mum not you," Alice put in.

"Oh, should I make an appointment?" she then suggests before going into the house thinking the lot of them are crazy.

"That wasn't just exhaust fumes. It's some sort of gas, artificial gas," the Doctor figures out what the smoke could be.

"And it's aliens. Is it aliens?" Wilf asks if this was work of space people.

"If this is poisonous?" Donna then asks if it is harmful.

"Then there's poisonous gas in every car on Earth," Alice puts in realising how bad this was not before hearing granddad was now moving the car but it automatically closes and locks him in and the engine starts by itself and lights.

"No, don't," Donna comes to stop him not realising he hasn't started the car.

"Granddad!" Alice calls out in panic trying to open the other door while the same white smoke starts billowing out the exhaust pipe.

"Turn it off," Donna tells him to turn off the engine, "Granddad, get out of there," she begs him now.

"I can't. It's locked," then he shows her the keys in his hands. "It's them aliens again," he points out that it has to be them.

"Doctor do something," Alice begs to him still trying to get the door open. The car starts honking on its own then their mother sees the commotion going on.

"What's he doing? What's he doing?" she asks thinking that this is all the Doctor's doing.

"They've isolated it" saying that it's now under the Sontarans control as every car on Earth now starts emitting the smoke there alarms going off.

"There's smoke in side the car. He's going to choke. Doctor!" Donna panics trying to get help and the Doctor comes over trying to open the door with the sonic but it's no use.

"It won't open," he struggles with it as much as he could. "It's the whole world," he realised looking at the other cars nearby before going back to under the bonnet of the Nobles pulling out wires trying to see if it would help but it was no good. He goes back to trying the door once again as Alice tried the other like she had done for a while now on her knees crying not wanting to lose her granddad.

"Doctor!" Alice calls out pleading for help to the Doctor now who stands in the middle of the road feeling so lost and unsure what to do to save Earth from its doom. And it was going to get so much worse than he thought.


	5. The Poison Sky

**The Poison Sky**

 **Disclaimer:** OC Alice/Ariana are mine the rest are BBC.

The poisonous smoke had now started to get worse. While the two Nobles struggled to get their granddad out of the car both of them now on just the one door trying to pull it open now as the Doctor was now under the back-end of the car with his sonic screwdriver trying to stop it.

"Doctor! Doctor please do something!" Alice begs in panic for him to try sort out the smoke in the car while coughing a little at the rest of it that had started to gather.

"He's going to choke," Donna she calls out to him as he struggles to stop it grunting in frustration as he tried to make it budge but it wouldn't.

"It won't open!" he informs both the sisters before their mother comes out holding an axe closing the hood of the car smashing the panel of glass on as making Alice wonder when on Earth did her mother get an axe as her and Donna's mouth hanged open in shock.

"Well, don't just stand there. One of you get him out," Sylvia commands hers daughters to help granddad. They had eventually helped granddad out of the car and both of the sisters were now escorting him back to the house. "I can't believe you've got an axe," Donna speaks in disbelief to her mother just as Ross turns up in a taxi.

"What would you need an axe for Mum?" Alice asked, still rather shocked.

"Burglars," she replied its for protection.

"Get inside the house. Just try to close off the doors and windows," the Doctor tells them what to do now taking off his glasses and putting them away.

"Doctor, this is all I could find that hasn't got Atmos," Ross informs it's a safe vehicle just as the others enter the house as the Doctor now rushes over to the black taxi.

"Donna, Alice, you coming?" he asks turning his head to them now then opening the door and getting in.

"Yeah," Both the sisters reply to him.

"Donna, Alice, don't go! Look what happens every time that Doctor appears," their mother begs of them not to leave her not liking the idea of them going with him.

"Stay with us, please!" she pleads still to them both.

"You go my darlings," Granddad encourages them.

"Dad!" Sylvia tells her father not to say this to them.

"Don't listen to her either of you! You go with the Doctor! That's my girls!" he tells them waving them away before Alice quickly hugs him and pecks his cheek before rushing over to the taxi getting in and closing the door behind them looking back to their family. "Bye," he bids them waving to them and Alice waves back blowing him a kiss before they drive off.

-Doctor Who-

They had now arrived back at UNIT only stopping at the barrier only the Doctor, Alice and Donna getting out. "Ross, look after yourself. Get inside the building," the Time Lord instructed the young man to take cover.

"Will do," He replies, "Greyhound 40, this is Trap One. I've just returned the Doctor to base, safe and sound. Over," Ross informs UNIT while this happened the clone Martha who since then had done all sorts of bad things to stop the Time Lord and unit from succeeding listen in. Before she then pretends to march into the UNIT lorry pretending to have just received a warning who the attackers were informing the Col.

"The air is disgusting," Donna implied while Alice coughs from the fumes of the smoke.

"It's not bad for me. Go, on, get inside the TARDIS both of you," the Doctor tells them that it would be best for them to go back to the ship before they then start to leave before the Doctor gets there attention. "Oh! I've never given either of you a key," he realised as they turn round back to him as he fished two keys out of his coat. "Keep them. Go on, there yours," he shows them the keys, "Quite a big moment, really," he then says rather happy now that it had come to the point he could trust them with keys to the TARDIS.

"Yes, maybe we'll get sentimental after the world's choking to death," Alice says sarcastically her voice a bit hoarse from the coughing.

"Good idea," he then understands before he rushes off to the barrier.

"Where are you going?" Donna wonders.

"To stop a war," he replies leaving them both to now head back to the TARDIS. They both rush through the thick smoke coughing making there where way to the ship that was parked where they last left it. Donna reaching it first and unlocking it pushing the door open both bundle into the ship nearly both of them nearly being sick from coughing so much.

It wasn't until after a couple of minutes that of the Martha clone learning of the TARDIS, that she ordered the two soldiers to seize the time machine for the taking. Getting it transported aboard the Sontaran ship that was above the Earth with both Noble sisters still inside, wondering what the shaking was before it stopped.

Now both the sisters have a peek opening the door a crack after the boy who made this all happen left. "He is behaving exactly as predicted, sir," one Sontaran says to the other.

"None of the humans can guess our true purpose," the other implies that the thing was a setup for them and the boy and now did the sisters feel so sorry for the boy.

Meanwhile the Doctor and the Martha clone already probably already figured out from him by now that she wasn't the real Martha so he played along as they now reached where the TARDIS should be. "But where's the TARDIS?" she asks pretending to be worried the ship was gone when it was her doing.

"Taste that, in the air," he tries figure out what it is. "Blah, blah, that sort of metal tang," he now knew the what it was. "Teleport exchange. It's the Sontarans. They've taken it," he says a little worried because he knew Alice and Donna were on board, he just hoped that they were both safe as he would never forgive himself if they got hurt. Especially Alice as she was to precious for him to lose. As Ariana was the last piece of home he had left that didn't need to be lost again.

"I'm stuck on Earth, like... Like an ordinary person, like a human," he complains, "How rubbish is that?" he asked rhetorically. "Sorry, no offence, but come on!" he goes on complaining.

"So, what do we do?" the Martha clone pretended to ask with concern.

"Well...I mean, it's shielded, they could never detect it," he replies that the time machine was well protected then he thought now would be a good time to test the clone on her genuine care for the real Martha's family.

"What?" the Martha clone asks to why he was looking at her like he was.

"Was just wondering, have phoned your family and Tom?" asks with concern for them but the clone wasn't showing it.

"No. What for?" she asks back.

"The gas. tell them to stay inside," he reminded her telling her would be wise to call them.

"Course I will, yeah, but what about Donna and Alice? I mean, where have they gone?" the clone says she will before wondering where the Doctor's two companions had got to.

"Oh, they've gone home," he lied convincingly to her that they are both safe when both of the Noble sisters where on the Sontaran ship, "Their not like you. Their not soldiers," he informs their nothing like her. "Right, so, avanti!" he then says as they both head back to UNIT while he still worried about the sisters.

-Doctor Who-

Both the sisters had waited around in the console room for the Doctor to do something to help them. Alice was sitting on the jumpseat face resting on her hand bored out of her mind while Donna paced about impatiently. "Would you stop worrying, the Doctor will do something to help I know he will," the younger assures her older sister that he would fix this. The screen flashes before Alice's eyes thinking she saw a young blonde woman shouting the Doctor's name for a couple of seconds before it disappeared but shook her head thinking it must be a glitch, old footage maybe.

"This is the Doctor," the familiar voice both of the sisters knew now blares out of the console Donna comes rushing over while the other pounces off the jumpseat now seeing the Time Lord appear on the screen before them in the UNIT lorry along with Col Mace at his side.

"Doctor, I'm here! Can you hear me?" Donna asked hoping he would.

"Don, I don't think he can hear us," Alice points as her sister as they now watched the Doctor taunt the Sontarans.

It then cuts out for a couple of seconds as it seemed he gotten bored with them before the screen came back on. "Finished?" they now hear him ask.

"Behold! We are the first Sontarans in history to capture a TARDIS," they hear the Sontaran taunt the Doctor about having his ship.

"Well, as prizes go, that's noble," he voices getting the message across to the sisters, "As they say in Latin, dona et alicianobispacem," he says directly to them.

"That's us. We're here!" she Donna says happily.

"Did you never wonder about it's design? It's a phone box. It contains a phone, a telephonic device for communication. Sort of symbolic. Like we could communicate, you and I," he then talks of the ship before putting it in a way of a riddle so that they could contact him pointing to himself and the screen. Donna didn't get it but Alice did remembering the mobile phone he had answered when Martha had contacted him.

"Oh, he is clever," Alice says with a small laugh having figured it out.

"What?" Donna asks what she means.

"All you have communicated is your distress, Doctor..." The Sontaran speaks.

"The mobile phone Donna! That's what he meant!" she goes to pick up the phone sitting on the console before showing it to her sister.

"Oh, my God!" Donna voices now getting it.

"Big mistake though, showing it to me," he then speaks that it wasn't wise to show him the ship.

"But who do we phone?" Donna asks hoping he would help with that as well as Alice looked through the phone.

"Come on Doctor, give us a bloody clue," Alice says looking up from the phone to the screen.

"'Cause I've got remote control," he then says this time neither of them getting it this time.

"How's that supposed to help us?!" Alice asks annoyed flipping the phone shut as he twiddle with his sonic in his fingers.

"Doctor, what number are you on?" the older asks but then communication is cut. "You haven't even got a number!" Donna declares shouting at the screen in frustration.

"But what do we do?!" Alice then now asks the blank screen in panic running her hands frantically through her hair, almost on the verge of tears as the box is moved nearly making both of the Noble sisters fall over. They were now lost and alone.

-Doctor Who-

While the news was reporting the event of the deadly smoke both sisters who we're worried about their family needed to hear their voices. Alice dialed the number putting it on loudspeaker holding it between herself and Donna soon as got answered. "Mum, you all right?" the older asks straight away

"Donna, Where are you, sweetheart? Is Alice with you?" their mother asks with concern on the other end hoping both her girls are alright whether they were.

"Yes, I'm here mum I'm fine," Alice replies.

"Is that them?" they hear their granddad calling in the background.

"Oh, just finish the job" she tells him to continue with the door. "Your granddad's sealing us in. He's sealing the windows. Our own house, and we're sealed in," she complains sadly to them, "All those things they said about pollution and the ozone and carbon, they're really happening, aren't they?" she then asks if this was true.

"There are people working on it, Mum," Alice assures her.

"They're gonna fix it, I promise," Donna tells her that it was going to get sorted.

"Oh, like you'd both know. You're so clever," she whines to them from the stress of the situation.

"Oh, don't start," Donna tells her to pipe it down.

"Yes Mum, please don't not now," Alice puts in a bit annoyed.

"I'm sorry," she apologised to them both. "I wish you were here," she tells them getting upset and neither of them liked it when she got like that it hurt them too much.

Then the sound of the phone getting taken from her as there granddad comes on. "Donna, Alice, where are you?" he asks them with worry.

"It's sort of hard to say. You all right?" the older asks if he's coping ok.

"Yeah fighting fit, yeah. Is he with you, the Doctor?" he replies saying he's fine before then asking of the Doctor both of the sisters look to each other wondering what to tell him.

"No," Donna replied bluntly now getting upset.

"We're all on our own," Alice tells him now with a shuddering breathe and tears running down her cheeks now.

"Look, you promised he was going to look after you both," he then says disappointed that nobody was protecting them.

"He will, Gramps," Donna assures him. "There's something he needs us to do. We just don't know what," she tells him they're stuck on what to do.

"Well, I mean, the whole place is covered, the whole of London, they're saying and now the whole world," he informs them it's now worldwide. "It's the scale of it both of you. I mean, how can one man stop all that?" he asks if the Doctor was capable of saving them.

"Trust us, he can do it I know he can," the younger tells showing she and Donna both had faith in him.

"Yeah, well, if he doesn't, you tell him he'll have to answer to me," he tells them there would be trouble for the Doctor if he failed.

"We will. Just as soon as me and Alice see him. We'll tell him," Donna tells him before he's then gone both of they hug giving each other comfort.

-Doctor Who-

Meanwhile on Earth things we're getting worse by the minute the smoke getting thicker. And the Doctor and UNIT try to figure out what the smoke was made off before it was too late. The Time Lord comes over to the clone Martha who was looking over some results for the smoke that was getting scanned over in a glass cylinder. He snatches the clipboard off her to give it a look over.

"Carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, but 10% unidentified" she tells him what's been found. "Some sort of artificial heavy element we can't trace" she then explains to him. "You seen anything like it?" she asks if he knew what it could be.

"Must be something the Sontarans invented. This isn't just poison. They need this gas for something else," the Doctor wonders what it's for. "What could that be?" he asks but then is cut short by something he clearly doesn't want to happen.

"Launch grid online and active," the uniformed woman announces.

"Positions, ladies and gentlemen DEFCON 1 initiatives in progress," Col Mace get's them to be ready.

"What? I told you not to launch!" he states to the Col angrily coming over to him not wanting things to be resolved this way.

"The gas is at 60% density. 80% and people start dying, Doctor. We've got no choice" Mace tells him in a way nothing could be done.

"Launching in 60, 59, 58, 57, 56..." the countdown begins the Doctor frustrated running his hands through his hair trying to figure out what he could do. While the Martha clone had gotten her phone out ready to stop the launch. "Worldwide nuclear grid now coordinating in 54, 53..." the countdown continues. And as that was happening UNIT were about to get an unexpected visit from the Sontarans.

"You're making a mistake, Colonel. For once, I hope the Sontarans are ahead of you," the Time Lord tells him how bad this was going to get.

"North America, online. United Kingdom, online. France, online. India, online, Pakistan, online. China, online. North Korea, online," the uniformed woman announces. "All systems locked and coordinated," it was now ready. "Launching in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5..." the countdown goes on.

"God save us" the Colonel prays this works.

"...4, 3, 2, 1, 0" it then finishes but before anything happens without them seeing the Martha clone shuts down the system completely.

"What is it? What happened?" Mace asks after the system goes off. "Did we launch? Well, did we?" he asks if the lauch was successful.

"Negative, sir. The launch codes have been wiped, sir. It must be the Sontarans," the woman replies that something has gone wrong.

"Can we override it?" Mace asks if it can be fixed.

"Trying it now, sir," she replies it will be done.

"Missiles wouldn't even dent that ship, so why are the Sontarans so keen to stop you? the Doctor queries what they could be up to. "Any ideas?" he looks to the Martha clone.

"How should I know?" she replies pretending not to understand what he was asking. It was now that the Sontarans started there attack on UNIT.

"Greyhound 40 declaring absolute emergency. Sontarans within factory grounds. East corridor, grid 6," The voice of the young man calls in panic the Doctor knowing it was Ross.

"Absolute emergency. Declaring Code Red. All troops, Code Red," the Colonel commands.

"Get them out of there," the Doctor pleads for him to do this.

"All troops, open fire," Mace then commands not listening.

"The guns aren't working. Inform all troops, standard weapons do not work," the young solider informs while hearing the screams of the men being shot down.

"Tell the Doctor it's that Cordolaine signal. He's the only one that can stop them," he then tells that the Doctor is there only hope before he then gets killed.

"Greyhound 40, report. Over. Greyhound 40, report. Greyhound 40, report," the Colonel tries over and over to get a response the Doctor knowing he's already dead. "He wasn't Greyhound 40. His name was Ross," he tells Mace the young man had a name. "Now listen to me, and get them out of there!" he then commands angrily for the troops to be removed.

"Trap One, to all stations. Retreat. Order imperative. Immediate retreat," he now orders the troops to evacuate. But most of them don't make it out alive and the factory now under Sontaran control. "They've taken the factory" Mace informs the Doctor.

"Why? They don't need it. Why attack now? What are they up to?" he then questions the Sontarans intentions for the factory. "At times like this, I could do with the Brigadier," implies needing help of an old friend. "No offence," he tells Mace.

"None taken. Sir Alistair's a fine man, if not the best. Unfortunately, he's stranded in Peru," the Colonel tells of the great man.

"Launch grid back online," the unformed woman informs them but it is cut out once again by the Martha clone. "They're inside the system, sir. It's coming from within UNIT itself" she informs that it was being done from base. "Trace it. Find out where it's coming from, and quickly" Mace orders it to be searched for. "Gas levels?" he then asks. "66% in major population areas, and rising" the woman replies of the increase. But it would only be a matter of time before it got much worse.

It was feeling like forever since both the Noble sisters last seen or heard the Doctor. Alice now leaning against the railing keeping a firm grip on the phone staring at it unsure what to do with herself while Donna sat on the jumpseat not far from her. Then suddenly the mobile rings making both of them jump Alice putting it on speaker replying to the call instantly.

"What's happened? Where are you?" she asked quickly hoping the Doctor was okay.

"Still on Earth, but don't worry, I've got my secret weapons," he replies.

"What secret weapons?" Donna asks unsure.

"You," he tells them they we're his secret weapons.

"Hmm, somehow that's not making me happy," Donna says not liking where this was going. "Can't you just zap us down to Earth with that remote thing?" Donna suggests to him.

"Yeah haven't got a remote, though. I really should, but I need you both on that ship," he replies wishing he could and for them to stay where they were. "That's why I made them move the TARDIS," he explains to why the Sontarans moved the ship.

"Why do I get the feeling your about to get us to do something dangerous and life threatening?" Alice asks not like where this was going in the slightest.

"I'm sorry, but you've got to go out side," he apologised for putting them in this situation.

"But there's Sunterruns out there," Donna sounding terrified saying the name of the aliens wrong again.

"Sontarans," the young Noble reminds her.

"But they'll be on battle stations right now. They don't exactly walk about having coffee," he implies that they should be fine as there weren't many on board the ship. "I can talk you both through it," he suggests to them that he would guide them.

"But what if they find us?" Donna asks with worry.

"I know, and wouldn't ask, but there's nothing else I can do. The whole planet is choking, Donna, Alice," he apologizes once again for doing this to the both of them.

"What do you need us to do?" Alice asks taking the phone off speaker, now putting it to her ear walking towards the door Donna following behind her.

"The Sontarans are inside the factory, which means they've got a teleport link with the ship, and they'll have deadlocked it," he explains to her.

"Ok, so you need us to reopen the link?" Alice ask.

"Yes that's right," he replies that she was correct on that rather impressed.

"What I can't even mend a fuse," Donna says into the phone having it passed to her.

"Donna, stop talking about yourself like that," the Doctor tells her not put herself down.

"You can both do this together, I promise," he tells her that she had the support of her little sister through this and he would try to help them. Then now opening the door just enough to see it being guarded.

"There's a Sontaran outside guarding it," she tells him having the phone passed back to her.

"Did he see you?" he asks.

"No, he's got his back to us," she replies back.

"Right, tell Donna. On the back of his neck, on his collar, there's a sort of plug, like a hole, the Probic Vent. One blow to the Probic Vent knocks them out," he gets her to pass this on to her sister.

"Don, the Doctor says there is a hole on the back of its neck, you need to hit it and they will pass out," Alice explains to her sister what needed to be done.

"But he might kill me," Donna says back to her the Doctor hearing it also.

"Come on sis, I know you can wallop that Sontaran one," she gives her sister the boost she needs.

"Your good to your sister you know that," the Doctor implies how caring Alice is being to Donna.

"I know but one of us has to be brave for us both," she tells him smiling slightly. Now she could see Donna approaching the console grabbing hold of the mallet that was hanging on the side and then coming back. "We're going out," Alice tells him.

"Be careful both of you," he tells her worrying a little.

"Of course we'll be careful," she tells him they should be fine before moving the phone into her pocket keeping the line open.

Both now stepping out of the TARDIS being careful to tread lightly as the approached the Sontaran Donna now raising the mallet and whacking it hard on the back of the neck where she was told to as he landed on the floor. The sister's high-five each other before holding the phone to her sister so she could tell the Doctor. "Back of the neck," she tells him cockily in confidence before Alice puts the phone back to her ear.

"What now?" the young Noble asks.

"Now then, you've both got to look for the external junction feed to the teleport" he tells her what needs doing.

"What are we looking for exactly? A symbol of some sort?" she asks if it's anything specific.

"It's a circular panel on the wall, big symbol on the front, like a letter 'T' with a horizontal line through it. Or two 'F's back to back" he replies explaining it to her.

"What do we need to look for?" Donna asks. "We need to find a round panel with a symbol of two 'F's back to back or a 'T' with a line through it," she replies telling what the Doctor told her they look but can't see such panel. "There's a door but not a panel," she informs him. "He said there should be switch on the side," Alice tells her sister.

"Found it," Donna tells her now seeing the hand shaped switch of only three chunky fingers.

"But it's Sontaran shaped, you need three fingers," the older implies that it would be impossible for them to get through the door.

"You've got three fingers sis, so have I," Alice tells her figuring it out where to put her fingers placing them in the switch the door sliding open. "We're through" she tells him they passed the door.

"Oh, you're both brilliant, you are," he praises them being so proud of them.

"Donna said to 'shut up' but thanks she appreciates it really," Alice tells the Doctor knowingly.

"Of course she does," he agrees with her.

They had now entered another corridor and start to look for the symbol once again. "Right, 'T' with a line through it," Alice hear's Donna mutter about the what they are looking for.

"Gotta go. Keep the line open," the Doctor tells her that he has to leave for a bit but stay on the phone.

"Ok don't be too long," Alice tells him to get back soon.

"I will, I promise," the Doctor says he'll try get back to them soon as he could.

-Doctor Who-

Alice and Donna start looking for the panel that would help the Doctor bring them and the Tardis back to Earth. And in doing so after a couple of seconds a door slides open Sontaran soldiers come marching out making both hide on either side of the corridor before the door closes once more they look to each other sighing with relief. "Donna, here I found it the panel," the young Noble calls to her sister seeing what they have looked for.

"Now what do we do?" she asks Alice.

"I'll call the Doctor he'll tell us what to do," she suggests since the line had gone on the phone so she dialed the number.

"Got it?" he asks answering the phone.

"Yes. Now hurry up," Alice tells him to be quick about getting them both back to Earth.

"Take off the covering. All the blue switches inside, tell Donna to flick them up, like a fuse box. And that should get the teleport working," he gives the young woman instructions for her sister to follow and then she passes it on.

"Doctor!" Alice calls out now through the phone to get the Time Lords attention. "Blue switches done," she informs him but then there is the sliding of a door and marching of feet as two Sontaran soldiers appear spotting them instantly. "They've found us" Alice now tells him terrified grasping onto her sister as they aim their guns at them.

"Now!" he shouts as they disappear from the Sontaran ship getting missed from the lasers and now reappear in the factory basement before the Doctor. "Have I ever told you how much I hate you?" Donna asked him rushing over to give him a hug then letting go then Alice hugged him so happy to see him keeping a firm grasp on him.

"Hold on! Hold on! Get off me! Get off me!" he then pushes out of the hug the young woman wishing it could have lasted longer.

"Got to bring the TARDIS down," he informs them going over to the transporter to sort it out.

"Right. Now, Martha, are you coming?" he then asks the other young woman who was in the Doctor's coat and white medical clothing.

"What about this nuclear-launch thing?" Martha asks him about her phone rushing over to the other three.

"Keep pressing 'N'. Want to keep those missiles on the ground," he replies telling her what to do while both of the Noble sisters notice something that there is another Martha.

"There's two of them," Alice says pulling a confused face looking between them both.

"Yeah. Long story," he tells in a way that was hard to explain before both the sisters join him and Martha in the transporter. "Here we go! The old team back together! Well, the new team" the Doctor says excited that they were all in one piece.

"We're not going back on that ship!" Donna then says getting terrified of going back up there.

"No, no, no, I need to get the teleport working so that we can get to..." he then types it in before pressing it and they disappear.

"Here. The Rattigan Academy, owned by..." And the boy himself appeared pointing a gun at them.

"Don't tell anyone what I did. It wasn't my fault. The Sontarans lied to me. They..." the boy tells them before the Doctor then snatches the gun out of his hand.

"If I see one more gun..." he then throws it breaking something. The women look at Luke briefly before then following after the Doctor.

"You know, that coat sort of works," Donna compliments Martha how well the item of clothing looks on her.

"I feel like a kid in my dad's clothes," she states how uncomfortable it is wearing it.

"Oh, well, if your calling him Dad, then you're definitely getting over him," Donna tells her in a way it was a good for her.

-Doctor Who-

Even though the Doctor now knowing the smoke wasn't poisonous but was changing the planet it was now getting worse and thicker than before and he knew he needed to do something about it. "That's why the Sontarans wanted to stop the missiles. They were holding back" he explains starting to build some contraption then grabbing hold of the mallet from Donna banging the top of the object making them jump a little. "Because the caesofine gas is volatile, that's why they had to use you to stop the nuclear attack. Ground-to-air engagement could've sparked off the whole thing," he goes on explain it to them still building whatever it was.

"What, like set fire to the atmosphere?" Martha asks.

"Yeah, they need all the gas intact to breed their clone army," the Doctor replies to her. "And all the time, we had Luke here, in his dream factory. Planning a little trip, were we?"

"They promised me a new world," Luke replies about his disappointment of the Sontarans.

"And you we're building new equipment, ready to terraform El Mondo Luko, so humans could live there and breathe the air with this," the Doctor goes on now fishing whatever it was it now lighting up. "An atmospheric converter," he now tells them what it is now lifting it off the table in the lab all of them following him outside.

Having now followed the Doctor outside as he set up the converter as the Noble sisters looked out to see the smoke that was covering the city.

"That's London. You can hardly see it," Alice points out how hard it is to see the it.

"Our family is in there," Donna says with worry.

"If I can get this on the right setting..." the Doctor says on all fours fiddling with the device while the young Noble now finding the Time Lords behind rather distracting in those blue trousers he was wearing making her blush. And she gets caught out by Martha and Donna.

"What?" she asks rather annoyed and embarrassed.

"Nothing," the older Noble said her and Martha having smirks on their faces seeing that the younger Noble had a bit of a crush on the Doctor.

But he didn't seem to notice it what was going on. "Doctor, hold on you said the atmosphere would ignite," Martha recalls what he told them.

"Yes, I did, didn't I?" he questions getting off ground now joining the others and moving any from the device pressing the button. A ball off fire shoots up into the air through the smoke before then exploding and spreading. "Please, please, please, please, please, please" the Doctor pleads wanting this to work.

And it does work the fire disappearing to bring back the brilliant blue nature of the sky. "Wow, that was amazing," Alice expresses how great it was hugging her sister.

"He's a genius," Luke says amazed what the Doctor just did.

"Just brilliant," Martha expresses how good it was.

"Now we're in trouble," the Time Lord says now with worry picking up the converter and now running back inside the academy the others following behind him.

When they get back the Doctor gets himself in the transporter with the converter. Then a realisation hit them what he was going to do. "Right. So, Donna, Alice, thank you for everything," he tells them putting on a brave face looking at Alice a little longer than he knowing it she would never know the truth of what she really was. "Martha, you, too. Oh... So many times," he thanks her for being there for him when he was lost. "Luke, do something clever with your life," he tells the boy.

"You're saying goodbye," Donna realises what he's doing so does Alice.

"Sontarans are never defeated. They'll be getting ready for war," he informs them. "And well, you know, I've recalibrated this for Sontaran air, so..." he explains what he's done to the converter.

"You're going to ignite them?" Martha asked he nods his head lightly in reply.

"You'll kill yourself," Alice says starting to get upset her watch starts to warm up emotion not her own starts to surface.

"Just send that thing up on its own. I don't know. Put it on a delay," Martha suggests to him but that wasn't the case.

"I can't," he says.

"Why not?" Donna asks him.

"I've got to give them a choice," he replies that he needs to do this.

"No you can't," Alice pleads as tears now cascading down her face her locket now had gotten more heated up as she tries going to him but he sees Donna stop her and it just broke his hearts seeing her like that before he then disappears completely.

-Doctor Who-

The Doctor now appears on the Sontaran ship wanting to give them a chance to surrender. "General Staal, you know what this is. But there's one more option. You can go. Just leave. Sontaran High Command need never know what happened here," he tries to reason with the General.

"Your stratagem would be wise if Sontarans feared death, but we do not" he tells the Doctor. "At arms!" he commands.

"I'll do it, Staal. If it saves the Earth, I'll do it," the Doctor threatens.

"A warrior doesn't talk. He acts," the General tells him.

"I am giving you the chance to leave," the Doctor tries to give him another chance.

"And miss the glory of this moment?" the General questions him.

"All weapons targeting Earth, sir. Firing in 20," a voice calls out over the system.

"I'm warning you!" the Doctor shouts in anger.

"And I salute you! Take aim!" Stall admires the Doctor's bravery and orders his troops to take position.

"Shoot me, I'm still going to press this. You'll die, Staal," the Time Lord warns not really caring if he got hurt.

"Knowing that you died, too," Staal says back not really caring. "Fireing in 15" the voice calls how long left to the Earth's destruction. "For the glory of Sontar!" the General calls out before they then start chanting smacking their hands in their fists.

Meanwhile on Earth Luke had fiddled about with the transporter managed to sort it out making all the women look to see what he was up to. "What are you doing?" Martha asks.

"Something clever," he says disappearing before them. While the countdown was near on fishing the Doctor about to press the button he disappears from the Sontaran ship and Luke takes his place and blows up the ship.

The Doctor now appears in the transporter landing on the floor of it in shock to what has happened. While the three women notice his return rushing over to him as he regained his breath Martha now sits beside him grasping his arm. But Donna whacks him a little angrily for him leaving them like that before then both sister's kneel next to him to give him some comfort.

-Doctor Who-

It now had been few days since the Atmos situation and now the sun was shining, there was a cool breeze in the air and no cars to be seen on the roads. And now the Noble sisters we're now sitting with their granddad in the open plan kitchen-living-dining space when their mother comes in with some shopping. "The streets are half empty. People still aren't driving. There's kids on bikes all over the place. It's wonderful," their mother talks excitedly now placing the bags on the side. "Unpack that, one of you. I'm going to see if Suzette's all right," she then asks one of the girls before going to check on her neighbour not knowing the girls would be off again.

"I won't tell her. Best not," granddad promises that he won't tell where their really going. "Just keep it as our little secret, eh?" he asks this was between them and nobody else.

"Yeah," Donna agrees in reply.

"Yes of course," Alice agrees on it as well.

"And you both go with him that wonderful Doctor. You go and see the stars the pair of you. And then bring a bit of them back for your old gramps," he encourages them to go and have the time of their lives but to come back now and again to tell him about their adventures.

Then Donna and Alice get up feeling a little sad about leaving their family behind. Donna wraps her arms around her granddad kissing him on top of the head. "Love you" she whispers before letting go walking away.

"Love you, Gramps, see you soon ok," the younger does the same as her sister keeping hold of him for a couple of seconds then kisses him on top of the head then follows after her sister both of them weep as they now got out the door not sure when they would see their family again.

After a long walk to the TARDIS they enter to the sight of the Doctor and Martha by the console now noticing them. "How were they?" Martha asks the sisters about their family.

"Oh...Same old stuff" Donna sighs sadly in reply coming over to them.

"Yep, just the same as usual, they're fine," Alice replies coming over to console also coming to stand beside her sister.

"So you gonna come with us?" the older Noble asks Martha hoping she would come.

"We've got plenty of room if you want tag along," the younger informs the other woman she was than welcome.

"Oh, I have missed all this, but, you know... I'm good here, back at home" she tells them declining it. "And I'm better for having been away," she informs being away from the TARDIS has done her good. "Besides, someone needs me," she flashes her engagement ring before moving towards the ramp. "Never mind the universe, I've got a great big world of my own now," Martha implies she's got adventures of her own to face.

But before she even makes one more step to leave, if on its own accord the TARDIS door slams itself shut and goes into flight shaking them all about and screaming not sure to what was really happening as they held on for dear life.

"What? What?" the Doctor asks himself not entirely sure what to do.

"Doctor, don't you dare!" Martha shouts at him thinking he has kidnapped her for a trip but he hasn't.

"No, no, I didn't touch anything!" he shouts back looking at the monitor claiming this wasn't him. "We're in flight! It's not me!" goes on to tell her he's not driving the ship.

"Where are we going?" Alice asks scared as anything.

"I don't know. It's out of control!" he replies not really sure looking at the monitor again.

"Doctor, just listen to me! You take me home! Take me home right now!" Martha tries to get him to stop this obviously not hearing him from before about it not being in his control unsure where it was taking them.

And they would just have to find out.


	6. The Doctor's Daughter

**The Doctor's Daughter**

 **Disclaimer:** my OC is mine the rest the BBC

The TARDIS had been shaking about violently for at least a couple of minutes now, as Martha, Donna and Alice cling on to the nearest thing for dear life and not get chucked around like rag dolls. Unsure on what was happening, the Doctor was trying to figure out what in Rassilion's name was wrong with her.

"What the hell is he doing?" Donna called across to her sister and Martha.

"The controls aren't working," the Doctor replied instead to her in pure frustration, not being able to control the ship, as the console sparked shocking them, as the Doctor dodge down out-of-the-way. "I don't know where we're going but my old hand's seems excited about it," he now mentioned the hand bubbling away in the jar.

"I thought that was just some freaky alien thing," Alice's voice goes all high pitched, now finding out that it was once part of him.

"Are you sure that it's yours?" Donna asked, thinking he couldn't be serious.

"Well..." he trails of honestly.

"It got cut off. He grew a new one," Martha finished explaining it to the sisters.

"I learn new things about you every day Doctor, by far that is the freakiest," Alice says creeped out.

"You're completely impossible," Donna then says just as creeped out as her little sister.

"I'm not freaky or impossible. Just a bit unlikely," he told both of them, before there a big explosion of sparks knocking all of them off their feet. But the Doctor fell back in the jump seat as the TARDIS came to a complete halt. The Time Lord hastily gets up, rushing around the console grabbing his coat along the way and going out the doors, with the others following out straight behind.

"Why did the TARDIS bring us here?" the Doctor wondered aloud, as they looked around what seemed to be a dark tunnel, scattered with fencing, boxes and barbed wire.

"Oh, I love this bit," Martha voiced, knowing that look on the Doctor's.

"I thought you wanted to go home," Donna recalled the young Doctor said about not coming.

"I know, but all the same..." Martha put back with a shrug of her shoulders, not really bothered anymore, "It's that feeling you get," she continued excitedly.

"Like you swallowed a hamster," Alice chipped in truly understanding what she meant.

"Don't move. Stay where you are!" The voice of a young man commanded to them in that instant the silence now broken, three men come out of hiding aiming their guns towards them. "Drop your weapons!" he ordered, but the time travellers just put their hands up showing surrender.

"We're not armed. Look no weapons, never any weapons. We're safe," the Doctor assured the young men they were no threat.

"Look at their hands. They're clean," the on his left pointed out.

"All right process them. Him first," the one in charge tells them nodding his head in the Doctor's direction, grab hold of him.

"Wait! Oi! What's wrong with clean hands?" he complained, as they dragged him over to the machine that Martha, Donna and Alice notice nearby following behind.

"What's going on? Leave him alone," Martha begged for them to let the Time Lord go. As his arm gets shoved into the device.

"Something tells me this isn't about to take my blood pressure" The Doctor says before it makes him shout in pain making the women panic.

"What are you doing to him?" Donna asked frightened that something bad would happen to him.

"Everyone gets processed," the young man told her firmly.

"It's taking a tissue sample," he explained what it's doing. "Ow, ow, ow, ow!"

"And extrapolated it! Some kind of accelerator?" he goes on wondering what it's doing to him before the machine let's go of him now stumbling back he now looks at his hand.

"Are you all right?" Martha and Alice ask at the same time seeing he was ok and Martha gives it a look seeing the 'Y' shaped marking on it.

"I don't know," he replies still not entirely sure what just had something comes to the Doctor and Nobles attention the larger machine from the one he'd just had his hand in. "What on Earth? That's just..." he then says now just as they now all witness it now including Martha who now see the doors of the machine open revealing a young blonde woman looking around curiously at her surroundings.

"Arm yourself," the young man from before hands her a gun knowing how to use it straight away.

"Where did she come from?" Alice asks rather confused about the situation.

"From me," he replied rather shocked.

"From you?" Donna asks him thinking he couldn't be serious.

"How? Who is she?" the younger sister asks.

"Well, she's...Well..." he tries to tell them now figuring it out himself.

"She's my daughter," he then finally tells them who she is.

"Hello, Dad," the girl then greets him with smile.

 **-Doctor Who-**

"Are you primed to take orders, ready to fight?" the young man asks the blonde that just not long came out of the machine.

"Instant mental download of all strategic and military protocol, sir. Generation 5000 soldier, primed and in peak physical health," she replies joining him before then cocking her gun. "Oh, I'm ready."

"Did you say daughter?" the older noble now asks making sure she heard right.

"Mmm. Technically," he replies in a 'sort of ' way.

"Technically how?" Martha asks for him to explain it more.

"Progenation, reproduction from a single organism. It means one parent is biological mother and father. You take a sample of diploid cells, split them into haploids, then recombine them in a different arrangement and grow, very quickly, apparently," he now explains to him what happened and how it worked.

A sound of marching feet and crashing is then heard. "Something's coming," the young blonde tells everyone as shadows of whatever was now coming appears on the tunnel walls.

"It's the Hath!" the young man calls. "Get down!" the young woman tells them the Doctor gets both the sisters with him on one side and Martha get separated from them taking cover on the other side soon as the shooting got going.

"We have to blow the tunnel. Get the detonator!" the young man orders. "We're not detonating anything," the Doctor tells them not do it going to attend to man who had gotten shot. Then during this it is that Martha gets taken by the Hath. The Doctor then notices that she's been taken and panics. "Martha!" But it is too late as the young woman holding the detonator hits it getting them to run from the explosion. Then as soon as it's over they come back out finding the tunnel now caved in.

"You've sealed off the tunnel. Why did you do that?" the Doctor now asks the young woman while Alice and Donna looked over at the wall of debris where their path now is blocked to the Tardis and Martha who they hoped was all right.

"They were trying to kill us," the blonde points out to him.

"But they've got my friend," the Doctor shouts in complaint.

"Collateral damage. At least you've still got them. He lost both his men. I'd say you came out ahead," the young woman implies that nothing could've been done but at least they were now safe.

But both the sisters didn't like the way she was speaking about their friend that way, "Her name is Martha," Donna tells her.

"Yes and just so you know she's our friend and not collateral damage, not for anyone," Alice says angrily coming up to her, "So have you got that, GI Jane?" she then asks hoping they've come to an understanding but the Doctor had never seen the young woman act like this before neither had Donna but maybe it was because of the small locket around her neck causing this. His best friends true nature seeping through.

"I'm gonna find her," the Doctor says and starts to leave and both the sisters as well but the young man cocks his gun pointing it at them stopping them in their tracks.

"You're going nowhere," he tells them, "You don't make sense, you three. No guns, no marks, no fight in you," he then says how wrong they seem to act and look. "I'm taking you to General Cobb. Now move," he gets them to do as their told now leading them to the man in charge.

 **-Doctor Who-**

Meanwhile Martha was in the hands of the Hath. The Doctor, Alice and Donna plus the unnamed young woman and young man we're now walking through some tunnels now being taken to the General. "I'm Donna. This is Alice," the eldest sister introduces herself and her sister to the young blonde. "What's your name?" she then asks.

"Don't know. It's not been assigned," she replies back unsure herself not knowing.

"Well, if you don't know that, what do you know?" the youngest Noble asks rather interested now taking a liking to her.

"How to fight," she replies that's all she knows.

"Nothing else?" Donna asks a little confused.

"The machine must embed military history and tactics, but no name," the Time Lord explains to both the sisters, "She's a generated anomaly," he then points out.

"'Generated anomaly'?" Alice queries thinking it over coming up with an idea for a name, "Generated," she then looks the first word over again and it hits her a name for the young woman, "Well, what about that? Jenny?" the young woman suggests to the blonde seeing if she liked it.

"Jenny. Yeah. I like that. Jenny," and replies that she does testing it on herself.

"What do you think, Dad?" Donna asks what the Doctor liking the name herself while poking fun at him.

"Good as anything, I suppose," he replies not really bothered about it.

"You're not what call a natural parent, are you?" the young Noble asks jokingly.

"They stole a tissue sample at gunpoint and processed it. It's not what I'd call natural parenting," the Time Lord complains in reply how wrong it felt to him.

"Rubbish. My friend Neris fathered twins using a turkey baster. It don't bother her," Donna tells of how a friend became a parent.

"Can I extrapolate a relationship from a biological accident?" the Doctor questions Donna if that's right.

"Uh, Child Support Agency can," she replies that the company saw nothing wrong of it.

"Look, just 'cause I share certain physiological traits primates doesn't make me a monkey's uncle, does it?" he then asks how that was any different.

"I'm not a monkey...or a child," Jenny complains not liking what he just said before they go on.

"So where are we? What planet's this?" the Time Lord asks wanting to know.

"Messaline. Well, what's left of it," the young solider replies as he leads them up some stairs now arriving as an over voice system announced deaths. And they see all sorts going on as they walked through while the young man who brought them here goes over to the General to speak.

"This is a theatre," Donna notices.

"Maybe they're doing Miss Saigon," Alice jokes sitting down beside the Doctor who also found the joke rather amusing.

"It's like a town or a city underground. But why?" the oldest Noble wonders aloud about where they were.

"General Cobb, I presume," the Time Lord now sees the older man approach them as he gets up.

"Found in the western tunnels, I'm told, with no marks. There was an outbreak of pacifism in the eastern zone, three generations back, before we lost contact," he informs them of what he knows of them and where they might of come from.

"Is that where you came from?" he asks thinking they've come from that part of the underground city.

"Eastern zone, that's us. Yeah, yeah," the Doctor replies playing along, "I'm the Doctor. This is Donna and Alice," he then introduces himself and the two sisters.

"And I'm Jenny," the blonde introduces herself.

"Don't think you can infect us with your peacemaking. We're committed to the fight to the very end," General Cobb tells them not to bother with their kindness but be more concerned about the war they are against but Alice had this niggling feeling that things we're about to get worse.

"Well, that's all right. I can't really stay anyway. I gotta go and find my friend," the Doctor says that he understands but he needed to leave to find Martha.

"That's not possible. All movement is regulated. We're at war," the General informs him there is no chance of going to find his friend seeing at what was going on at this current time.

"Yes. I noticed. With the Hath," the Time Lord says know what they are up against. "But tell me, 'cause we got a bit out of circulation, eastern zone and all that, so who exactly are the Hath?" he asks unsure who they are wanting to know more about the aliens.

 **-Doctor Who-**

It was now as General Cobb showed them around the base camp he tells of the history of how things now came to be, "Back at the dawn of this planet, these ancient halls were carved from the earth. Our ancestors dreamt of a new beginning, a colony where human and Hath work and live together."

"So what happened?" Alice asks him wanting to know.

"The dream died, broken along with Hath promises. They wanted it all for themselves. But those early pioneers, they fought back. They used the machines to produce soldiers instead of colonists and began this battle for survival," he replies explaining it to them.

"There's nothing but earth outside. Why's that?" Donna asks as she looked at the window oddly. "Why build everything underground?" she goes on to then ask trying to make sense of it.

"The surface is too dangerous," the young man for earlier replies that it wasn't safe outside.

"Well, then why build windows in the first place?" the older Noble asks confused about it looking up at the windows above her. "And what's this mean?" she then notices the metal plack on the wall under the window.

"The rites and symbols of our ancestors. The meanings lost in time," The General replies telling her what the numbers meant.

"How long has this war gone on for?" the Doctor asks him.

"Longer than anyone can remember. Countless generations marked only by the dead," General Cobb replies.

"What, fighting all this time?" Alice asks.

"Because we must. Every child of the machine is born with this knowledge. It's our inheritance. It's all we know. How to fight and how to die," Jenny replies in explanation that this how things were.

Awhile later they we're now all looking at a holographic map of the city before them. Not realizing that Martha was doing the same with the Hath at that same moment. "Does this show the entire city, including the Hath side?" the Doctor asks inspecting the map while now wearing his glasses that made the younger of the Nobles look on at him in an admiring gaze but then get's taken out of it by her sister who noticed elbowing her for to pay attention.

"Yes. Why?" General Cobb wonders what he means. "Well, it'll help us find Martha," he replies back to him needing to look for his friend.

"We've more important things to do" the young man says.

"Like what?" Alice asks in anger why looking for their friend isn't a priority.

"The progenatiom machines are powered down for the night shift, but as soon as they're active, we could breed a whole platoon from you three," the young man goes ignoring the question which the young Noble found quite rude. But then also there was the disturbing thing of loads of people coming out of that machine made both the sisters shiver at the thought.

"I'm not having sons and daughters by some great big flipping machine," Donna says freaked out declines the offer.

"Yeah, and no offence, but you're not exactly ...Well, I mean, you're not real," Alice points out.

"You're no better than him," Jenny scoffs in disbelief while comparing the young Noble to the Doctor not realising how right she was about them both. "I have a body, I have a mind, I have independent thought," she goes on saying she's her own person. "How am I not real? What makes you better than me?" she then asks Alice but has nothing to reply back.

"Well said, soldier. We need more like you if we're to find the source," General Cobb tells Jenny she was speaking right and what also what they were looking for.

"Ooh, the source. What's that then? What's the source? I like a source. What is it?" the Doctor asks rather intrigued to know what it was while joking about it.

"The breath of life," the General replies.

"And that would be?" Alice asks nosing in wanting to know.

"In the beginning, the Great One breathed life into the universe. And then she looked at what she'd done and sighed," the young man tells them all.

"'She,' I like that," Jenny comments sarcastically.

"Bit far fetched if I do say so," Alice scoffs.

"Right, so it's a creation myth," the Doctor says not so sure if its true.

"It's not myth, it's real," the General tells that it is true, "That sigh, from the beginning of time, it was caught and kept as the source. It was lost when the war started, but it's here somewhere. Whoever holds the source controls the destiny of this planet," he informs the Doctor of what he know and what was at stake.

"Ah! I thought so" the Time Lord shouts swiping his hand through the map making the sister's jump making the younger glare daggers at him before then going on. "There's a suppressed layer of information in this map" he tells what he might have discovered. "If I can just..." he then fetches his sonic out making the platform turn and rise making another lot of rooms and tunnels appear on the map before them.

"What is it? What does it mean?" Donna asks trying to understand it.

"See? A whole complex of tunnels hidden from sight," the Doctor points out to them while not knowing that the new map is now been shown to the Hath.

"That must be the lost temple. The source will be inside," the General says thinking what it could be. "You've shown us the way. And look, we're closer than the Hath. It's ours," he thanks the Doctor for doing this that they were one step ahead of their enemies.

 **-Doctor Who-**

It was not long after that they we're getting themselves ready for what was ahead. "Tell them to prepare to move out. We'll progenate new soldiers on the morning shift, then we march. Once we've reached the temple, peace will be restored at long last," Cobb starts giving out orders to the soldier beside him as the others followed behind.

But the Doctor stops him not liking where this was going and Alice didn't like it either. "Call me old-fashioned, but if you really wanted peace, couldn't you just stop fighting?" he now asks if that would make more sense to the right thing.

"Only when we have the source. It will give us the power to erase every stinking Hath on the face of this planet," the General replies that it will happen when they get what they want and get rid of their rivals.

"Hang on, hang on. A second ago, it was peace in our time, now your talking about genocide," the Doctor says this not sitting right with him in the slightest.

"For us, that means the same thing," Cobb says back knowing what he meant.

"Then you need to get yourself a better dictionary. When you do, look up genocide. You'll see a little picture of me there and the caption will read, 'Over my dead body!'" the Doctor says angrily trying to get it across to the General he was doing the wrong thing.

"You're the one who showed us the path to victory, but you can consider the irony from your prison cell," Cobb now says having enough of the Doctor.

"Cline, at arms," he orders the young man who now points the gun at the Time Lord and then Alice suddenly becomes over protective of him.

"Hey, hurt him and you'll be sorry. Are we clear, Rambo," she tells him menacingly stepping in front of the Doctor and the gun Donna surprised to see her sister act like this again. And the Doctor could just about see a glimpse of his old friend coming through once again knowing it was something she would do was to stick up for him.

"Take them. I won't have them spreading treason," Cobb orders for them to be taken. "And if you try anything, Doctor, I'll see that your woman dies first," he then warns there would be consequences as he looks between Alice and the Doctor thinking their together.

"We're not a couple," the Doctor says denying it his what his hearts had started to feel something for the young Noble recently.

"I'm not his woman," Alice says at the same time in the same way trying not to blush. But Donna could see as plain as day since the Sontarans that her sister had a crush on the Doctor and knowing this her sister could be heading towards a broken heart like Martha.

"Come on, this way," Cline directs them to move.

"I'm going to stop you, Cobb. You need to know that," the Doctor threatens pointing his finger at him.

"I have an army and the breath of God on my side, Doctor," he informs the Time Lord he has what he needs. "What'll you have?" Cobb asks.

"This," the Doctor replies pointing to his head.

"Lock 'em up and guard 'em," Cobb orders Cline. And it was while being lead to their cell that the Hath we're praising Martha for showing the other part the map thinking she done it when it wasn't actually her doing.

Now finally taken into their cell the bared door closed behind them the Doctor taking off his coat and tossing it on the nearest thing nearby and sits on the bench in front of it along with Alice who joined him as Jenny and Donna stood. "More numbers. They've got to mean something," the older Noble notices a similar plack that she'd seen in the theatre.

"Makes as much sense as the breath of life story," the Doctor says still unsure of it.

"You mean that's not true?" Jenny asks him.

"No. It's a myth, isn't it, Doctor?" Donna asks him as she now sits on the other side of him. "Yes, but there could still be something real in that temple. Something that has become a myth, a piece of technology, a weapon" the Doctor replies taking a guess.

"So the source could be a weapon and we've just given directions to Captain Nutjob?" Alice asks calmly before getting a little peeved about it.

"Oh, yes," he sighs in reply to her.

"Not good, is it?" Donna asks that this wasn't looking great.

"That's why we need to get out of here, find Martha and stop Cobb from slaughtering the Hath," he replies that a plan needs to put into action while Jenny stares at him in awe and the Doctor notices wondering why she's doing it. "W-what are you staring at?" he asks stammering slightly.

"You keep insisting you're not a soldier, but look at you, drawing up strategies like a proper general," Jenny replies pointing out what he's being like.

"No, no. I'm trying to stop the fighting," he insists it's nothing like that.

"Isn't every soldier?" she asks him.

"Well, I suppose, but that's..." he starts to reply tripping over his words, "That's...Technically. Haven't got time for this," he goes on trying to brush off while making both sisters smirk at how uncomfortable he was getting. "Alice, give me your phone. Time for an upgrade," he now holds out his hand for her to place her mobile as he gets his sonic out of his suit after she now gives it to him.

"And now you've got a weapon," Jenny says amazed at the sonic.

"It's not a weapon," he tells holding it up to her before he starts upgrading Alice's phone.

"But your using it to fight back," she points out to him. "I'm gonna learn so much from you. You are such a soldier" Jenny says to him in awe.

"Donna, will you tell her?" he asks of the older Noble do something about it.

"Ooh, you are speechless," Donna says about how he was acting now.

"I'm so loving this. You keep on, Jenny," the younger Noble encourages her to keep doing that while the Doctor now uses Alice's phone to ring Martha.

"Doctor," the young woman replies.

"Martha, you're alive!" he says in relief after she answers.

"Doctor! Oh, am I glad to hear your voice," Martha replies back happily. "Are you all right?" she asks to see if he's and the others are ok.

"I'm with Donna and Alice. We're fine," he tells her.

"What about you?" he now asks how she's faring.

"And...And Jenny. She's fine, too," Donna reminds of the young woman pointing out to her.

"Yes, all right," he says he will. "And... And.. Jenny. That's the woman from the machine, the soldier. My daughter. Except she isn't, she..." he tells Martha about her getting uncomfortable about it, "Anyway, where are you?" the Doctor asks.

"I'm in the Hath camp. I'm ok, but something's going on. The Hath are all marching offto some place that's appeared on this map thing," she tells him where she is and what is going on.

"Oh. That was me," he tells her now knowing he's caused something really bad, cringing slightly, "If both armies are heading that way, there's gonna be a bloodbath," he says this wasn't looking great.

"What do you want me to do?" Martha asks him.

"Just stay where you are," he tells her to not move from where she is, "If you're safe there, don't move, do you hear?" the Doctor gets her to do as he says.

"But I can help," Martha says she wants to do something but it is then that they get get cut off.

After a long while Cobb's platoon was ready from w hat the time travellers could hear in their prison cell as the Doctor looked out through the bars briefly. "They're getting ready to move out. We have to get past that guard," the Time Lord tells that a distraction is needed to get them out of here, moving away from the bars.

"I can deal with him," Jenny insisted with confidence, taking a few steps towards the cell door.

"No, no, no, no. You're not going anywhere," the Doctor stopped Jenny grabbing her by the arm getting her to stay.

"What?" she gave him a look of misunderstanding.

"You belong here with them," he told her with honesty.

"She belongs with us," Donna told him that Jenny needed to stay.

"With you. She's your daughter. Remember," Alice reminded him with a rather firm tone who the young woman was and that she was while getting an overwhelming urge to protect her like a mother would.

"She's a soldier. She came out of that machine," he recalled.

"Oh yes, I know that bit," Donna implies that she didn't need to be told.

"Have you still got that stethoscope?" Alice asked him out of the blue, remembering that she'd seen him use it on the TARDIS before. "Give it to me. Come on," she held out her hand for him to give it to her, so in defeat he fishes it out and passes it over to her.

"What are you doing?" Jenny asked nervously, as Alice placed the buds in her ears.

"It's all right. Just hold still," she reassured Jenny not to worry, placing the instrument over her chest instantly hearing the beat of Jenny's heart and then recalled something about the Doctor saying he had two hearts, moving it to the other side to hearing the young woman's other heart thumping away.

"Come here," She looked to the Doctor, gesturing for him to come over as she took the earbuds out keeping the other part still on Jenny's chest, "Listen, and then you tell me where she belongs," he takes the earbuds putting them in. Alice moves the stethoscope one side to the blonde's chest to the other.

"Two hearts," he realises what he's just heard rather unsure what to think.

"Exactly," Alice says knowing he would now see sense to bring Jenny with them. "What's going on?" the young blonde asks unsure what is happening.

"Does that mean she's a, what do you call a female Time Lord?" Donna asks.

"What's a Time Lord?" Jenny asks wanting to know.

"It's who I am. It's where I'm from," The Doctor replies to her telling that this what he was.

"And I'm from you," she recalls.

"You're an echo, that's all. A Time Lord is so much more. A sum of knowledge, a code, a shared history, a shared suffering. Only it's gone now, all of it. Gone forever," he tells her that she's nothing but a copy. That what he is much more beyond her that he was the last of his kind to exist. But he knew that wasn't entirely true there was another of his kind standing in this room right now and she didn't even know it.

"What happened?" Jenny asks wanting to know.

"There was a war," he replies trying not to show pain in his voice.

"Like this one?" she asks if his war was the same.

"Bigger. Much bigger," the Doctor replies that it was much more different to this one.

"And you fought, and killed?" Jenny asks if he was part of it.

"Yes" replies bluntly willing himself not to show his pain.

"Then how are we different?" she asks him. While Alice for some reason understood what Doctor was feeling but didn't know why.

It was now decided that they would give Jenny a go at getting them out of the cell as she now went over to the bars where the young solider Cline was guarding them. "Hey," she greets him grabbing his attention.

"I'm not supposed to talk to you. I'm on duty," he tells her that he's under strict orders.

"I know. Guarding me. So, does that mean I'm dangerous, or that I need protecting?" Jenny asks him.

"Protecting from what?" he asks what she meant by her question.

"Oh, I don't know. Men like you?" she ponders before without warning kisses him taking his pistol from him and now pulling away to point it at him. "Keep quiet and open the door" Jenny tells him to do as she says.

"I'd like to see you try that," Donna suggests to the Time Lord.

 **-Doctor Who-**

They start making their way down the stairs trying to be as quite as possible. And as they turn the corner the Doctor stops them noticing a guard blocking their escape on the lower flight of stairs. "That's the way out," he tells them nodding his head in the direction of it. When Jenny then raises her pistol ready to attack. "Don't you dare," the Doctor warns her through gritted teeth getting her to lower her weapon.

"Let me distract this one. I have picked up a few womanly wiles over the years," Donna then says she'll have ago at distracting the guard but the younger thinks that wouldn't be wise plus not to mention embarrassing.

"Let's save your wiles for another time sis. In case of an emergency," she tells Donna trying to put it to her nicely as she could that this wasn't an ideal time.

After the Doctor rummaged in his coat pockets after he then pulls out a clockwork mouse and winds it up before then placing letting it squeak as moved across the floor before then stopping behind where the guard was who comes to inspect it then turns back round and in doing so Jenny karate chops him from behind. "I was going to distract him, not clobber him," the Doctor complains that had a different idea in mind.

"Well, it worked, didn't it?" she asks thinking at least the guard was out the way.

"They all must have a copy of that new map. Just stay there. Don't hurt anyone," he implies he needs to get a map while then getting Jenny to stay where she is.

The Doctor and his companions, also Jenny of course had walked the tunnels what seemed like forever as they followed the map trying to find the secret hidden tunnel to the source. "Wait!" the Time Lord calls grinding them to a halt thinking that he just might have found what they have looked for. "This is it. The hidden tunnel," he takes his glasses of going over to where it could be. "There must be a control panel," he the guesses getting out the sonic to scan the area where the tunnel could be.

"There's more of those numbers. They're everywhere," Donna notices another plack.

"The original builders must have left them. An old cataloguing system," the Doctor implies it something left by whoever built it.

"You got a pen, a bit of paper?" the older Noble asks of him. "'Cause don't you see? The numbers are counting down. This one ends in 1-4," she points out. "Ok, and the prison cell was 1-6," Alice recalls now understanding about the placks how unusual they were.

"Always thinking, all of you. Who are you people?" Jenny sounds surprised wondering who they are.

"I told you, I'm the Doctor," he tells her honestly that was what he was called.

"The Doctor, that's it?" she asks sounding confused.

"That's all he ever says," the young Noble replies in a knowing sing-song voice while her and Donna kept looking at the plack trying to figure it out.

"So you don't have a name either? Are you an anomaly, too?" Jenny asks if was just like her if he didn't have a proper name.

"No," he replies briefly making Alice scoff in disbelief at his reply.

"Oh please, you're the most anomalous bloke I've ever met," she tells him.

"Here it is!" he announces that he's found it pulling off a panel of wood and starts fiddling about with it while also using the sonic.

"And Time Lords what are they for exactly?" Jenny asks.

"For? They're not...They're not for anything," he replies.

"So what do you do?" she asks with interest.

"I travel through time and space," the Doctor replies but Alice and Donna let on there's more.

"He saves planet, rescues civilisations," the older sister tells her.

"Defeats terrible creatures and runs a lot. Seriously there's an outrageous amount of running involved," the younger continues telling her.

"Got it!" the Doctor says excitedly as after getting the door open flipping his sonic in the air and catching it.

"Such a bloody show off," mutters Alice as he puts it back not realising the grin he was hiding from her and that he had heard.

"Support 5, with me," they then hear the voice of General Cobb order in the distance.

"Now. What were you saying about running?" he asks recalling what the younger Noble said before shooting off the rest behind him. But it's then something blocks their path a series of what was probably lasers.

"That's not mood lighting, is it?" Donna asks seeing if it's safe but then the Doctor gets the wind up mouse from earlier throwing it and it destroys in a matter of a few seconds.

"No. I don't think it is Don," Alice replies to the question gulping slightly.

"Arming device," the Doctor queries before spotting a blue box nearby.

"Donna there's more of those numbers," Alice calls to her sister getting her to come over and have a look.

"There's always eight numbers, counting down the closer we get," she tries to figure out.

"Here we go," the Doctor now had the box open going over it with the sonic trying to figure out a way to turn of the lasers.

"You'd better be quick," the older tells him to hurry as it seemed they had company coming.

"Yes as Captain Nutjob is on his way," the younger implies.

"The general," Jenny says moving away about to go in the direction where the voices of the men could be heard.

"Where are you going?" the Time Lord stops her grabbing hold of her arm.

"I can hold them up," Jenny replies that she could give the Doctor more time.

"No. We don't need anymore dead," he tells her he can't risk anybody getting hurt.

"But it's them or us," Jenny implies they have a choice.

"It doesn't mean you have to kill them," the Doctor tries to get her to understand that hurting people won't solve anything.

"I'm trying to save your life," she tells him that she wants to protect him.

"Listen to me, the killing, after a while it infects you and once it does you're never rid of it," he tries to get her to understand how much it would scar somebody for the rest of their life.

"But we don't have a choice," Jenny says as if there is no other way out.

"We always have a choice," he tries to get her to see there is a way out.

"I'm sorry," she apologies running off.

"Jenny!" he called after her to come back but she's gone and the shooting begins. "Told you both, Nothing but a soldier," he tells the sisters.

"She's trying to help," Donna points out that she was on their side. But it's that Jenny changes her mind that it's not way things need to be done.

"Jenny, come on!" the Doctor calls for her.

"I'm coming," she calls back.

It was now that the lasers had been disabled so they could continue. "That's it," Alice tells him that he's done it.

"Jenny, leave it. Let's go!" he calls for the young woman again before grabbing hold of the sisters hands and making a run for it down the corridor. As then General Cobb tried to sway the Jenny into joining him but instead declines shooting a pipe leaving them in a cover of smoke as she fled.

"Jenny, come on!" the Time Lord calls for her again now as he, Alice and Donna waited at the other end of the corridor for her. "That's it!" the Doctor encourages her just as she appears in sight.

"Hurry up!" Donna calls.

"Come on, Jenny!" Alice calls. But it is that then the lasers come back on blocking her way.

"Oh, no, no, no, no. The circuits moved back," the Doctor says a little annoyed that the system must have reset.

"Zap it back again!" the older Noble tells him to sort it in a panic.

"The controls are back there," he tells Jenny knowing he can't do anything to help her. "They're coming!" Jenny tells them she could hear Cobb and his men getting close.

"Wait! Just..." the Doctor tries to look for another way to turn off the lasers but is at loss at finding anything. "There isn't... Jenny. I can't..." he tells her there is no way he can help her.

"I'll have to manage on my own,"she implies that she'll have to this the hard way tossing the gun aside taking a few steps back. "Watch and learn, Father," she tells him to look what she's about to do raising her arms before then doing several backflips through the lasers.

"No way," Donna says rather gob-smacked.

"I wouldn't even be able to do that blindfolded," Alice says a little surprised to how Jenny was doing this, her mouth hanging open.

"But that was impossible," the older Noble implies still shocked by what she's just see the young blonde do as she now lands in front of them.

"Not impossible. Just a bit unlikely," The Doctor says not expecting that from her, "Brilliant. You were brilliant! Brilliant!" he praise her with glee bringing her in into a hug.

"I didn't kill him. General Cobb. I could've killed him, but I didn't. You were right I had a choice," Jenny tells him that she didn't have it in her to kill that she knew the Doctor was right all, Alice and Jenny make a head start running while the Doctor stood to see the General approaching on the other side through the lasers.

"I warned you, Cobb. If the source is a weapon, I'm going to make sure you never use it," the Time Lord tells him.

"One of us is going to die today and it won't be me," the General threats before shooting the gun making it miss the Doctor as he runs off to catch up with the others. Meanwhile Martha was making her way across the surface of the planet along with a Hath she befriended but would soon lose him when he saves her life sacrificing his own in the process.

 **-Doctor Who-**

Having now escaped Cobb and his men for now they had made it into the other part of the under ground city to look for the source. "So you travel to travel together, but you're not together," Jenny wonders to Alice what the story is between her and the Doctor as they walked behind the Doctor and Donna

"What? No, we're nothing more than just friends that's all," the eld est Noble hears her sister try to deny that's all the Doctor is to her, "Plus we're both different species. And there's probably laws against it as well," Alice points out that it would never happen but for some hidden reason she did want it to be more with him.

"And what's it like, the travelling?" Jenny asks with interest.

"Oh, never a dull moment in the slightest. It's terrifying, brilliant and funny and sometimes all of it is rolled in to one," she tells Jenny what it's like, "The things I've seen are amazing. Whole new worlds," she continues.

"Oh, I'd love to see new worlds," the young blonde says like the thought of that happening.

"Of course you will Jenny," Alice says that she can, "Won't she, Doctor?" she asks him seeing if he heard.

"Hmm?" he to them unsure what the young Noble just asked him.

"Alice was just wondering if Jenny will see new worlds?" Donna asks the Doctor putting her sisters question a different way.

"I suppose so," he replies that it wouldn't be such a bad thing.

"You mean...You mean you'll take me with you?" Jenny asks them all if there being serious.

"Well, we can't leave you here, can we?" he puts it that he would not have it any other way.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" the young blonde gets all excited hugging the Doctor.

"Come on. Let's get a move on," she says before then running ahead of the others.

"Careful, there might be traps," he calls after Jenny with concern to keep a look out.

"Kids, they never listen," Donna jokes before both the sisters notice a stern expression on his face, "Oh, I know that look. See it a lot round our way. Blokes with push chairs and frowns," the older Noble points out, "You've got dad shock," she implies that he's just getting used to the idea of being a parent.

"Dad shock?" the Doctor wonders what she means by it.

"Sudden, unexpected fatherhood. It'll take a bit getting used to," Donna explains to him and that he would get the hang of it eventually.

"No. It's not that," he tells her it's something else on his mind and it concerned Alice a little.

"Well, what is it then? Having Jenny in the TARDIS, is that it? What she gonna do cramp your style? Like, you've got a sports car, she's gonna turn it into a people carrier," the younger asks jokingly of what Jenny would do to cause him such worry.

"Donna, Alice, I've been a father before," he confesses to the sisters something he never told them before.

"What?" the older asks while Alice processed the information.

"I lost all that a long time ago, along with everything else," the Doctor replies sadly about the loss of his planet.

"Sorry we didn't know," Alice apologizes for what happened to him making both the sisters feel sorry for him. But the younger felt like she knew what he was going through that she experienced it like him but just couldn't understand where this emotion was coming from.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Donna wonders why he hadn't told them before.

"You talk and talk yet never say anything," Alice mentions.

"I know. Just..." he tries to tell them find the right words and they stop walking, "When I look at her now, I can see them, the hole they left, all the pain that filled it," the Doctor explains that Jenny reminds him of he's lost and while the Doctor said this it's then Alice sees something flash before her eyes then gone again the image of children crying and screaming but tries to hide it wiping the tear away that had rolled down her cheek.

"Just don't know if I can face that every day," he tells Donna honestly it will be to hard for him while noticing out the corner of his eye seeing pain and sadness in Alice's eye's he knowing that Ariana had suffered the same pain he had that she fully understood, even if the young Noble didn't know it herself what it all meant, and what he was hiding from her what she truly is.

"It won't stay like that. She'll help you. We all will," Donna tells him that there here to help him.

"When they died, that part of me died with them. It'll never come back, not now," he says he'll never get that feeling again now that their all gone.

"I'll tell you something, Doctor, something I've never told you before. I think you're wrong," Donna confesses that he's not thinking right about it but then the sound of laser blasts interrupting their thoughts.

"They've blasted through the beams," Jenny appears informing what has just been done by Cobb and his army, "Time to run again. Love the running. Yeah?" she looks to the Doctor.

"Love the running," he replies with a grin that he couldn't agree more before they all rush off once again. It was not knowing that two of them would get hurt by the end of this and of which would lead to the truth that the young Alice Noble would finally discover.

It's by now that after running for a while they reach a dead-end and possibly nowhere to go as the sounds of gunfire are still heard. "We're trapped," Alice points out to the Doctor with worry thinking that their done for.

"Can't be. This must be the temple," he implies they couldn't as they are near to what they're looking for he goes up to the panel in the wall and touches it, "This is a door," the Doctor figures out what the panel is.

While Donna had now noticed more of the numbers that they had seen on their way to looking for the source. "And again. We're down to 1-2 now," she points out to the plack.

"Odd that," Alice implies still not sure what the numbers were and knew this was an area of expertise that her sister probably knew.

"I got it!" the Doctor calls to them he as the access panel to door open as now tries to use the sonic to get open.

"I can hear them," Jenny tells him Cobb and his troops are getting closer getting him to hurry up as she stood guard.

"Nearly done!" the Doctor informs that he's almost finished.

"This can't be a cataloguing system," the older Noble ponders that the Doctor must have it wrong about it is.

"They're getting closer," the blonde tells him.

"Yeah, can you hurry up," the younger Noble tells him starting to worry as she now stood next to the young woman helping to keep an eye out.

"Then get back here both of you," the Doctor tells them to come over to him

"They're too similar. Too familiar," Donna still goes on about the numbers still trying to figure it out.

"Not yet," Jenny tells she isn't moving but Alice does as she's told and goes stand nearby the Doctor.

"Now!" he orders her do as she is told. "Got it!" he tells them that the door has been now open getting them follow while at the same time Martha who after having made a treacherous journey across the surface enters through another door that had opened before her.

"They're coming," Jenny warns now seeing Cobb and his troops as she steps through the door, "Close the door," she tells the Doctor after and he does just that blocking Cobb's path, "That was close," she says happy that they had made to the other side.

"No fun otherwise," the Doctor jokes with a grin.

"I couldn't agree more," Alice says with a smile before they all then run off heading towards the temple.

"It's not what I'd call a temple," Donna notices that it looks nothing like it should be.

"It looks more like..." Jenny tries to describe it but can't seem to find the words of what it is.

"Fusion-drive transport. It's a spaceship," the Doctor then tells them where they are.

"What, the original one? The one the first colonists arrived on?" Alice asks taking a guess.

"Well, it could be, but the power cells would have run down after all that time," the replies that she was sort of right but it didn't make sense that it should have run out of energy by now, "This one's still powered up and functioning," he then says finding it rather odd that this ship was still in working order. "Come on!" he calls for them to follow as he rushes of wanting to find out more.

It's as after they have gone up to the next level they find that the door is getting cut through by the others that are after the source. "It's the Hath. That door's not going to last much longer. If General Cobb gets through down there, war's going to break out," Jenny implies things would get very dangerous, very quickly as soon as both would get into the ship.

"Look, look, look, look!" the Doctor then notices a control panel nearby running over to it and slips his glasses on as the others join him. "Ship's log," he starts looking up the records, "First wave of Human/Hath co-colonisation of Planet Messaline," he reads out.

"So it is the original ship?" the blonde asks something similar Alice had earlier.

"What happened?" Donna asks seeing what else could be found.

"There's one construction. They used robot drones to build the city," he replies reading what's before him.

"But does it mention the war?" Alice asks wanting to now how it all started in the first place.

"Final entry, 'Mission commander dead'," he starts to read with a little surprise, "'Still no agreement on who should assume leadership'," he goes on, ",'Hath and humans have divided into factions'," then he finishes.

"That must be it. A power vacuum. The crew divided into two factions, then turned on each other. Started using the progenation machines, suddenly you've got two armies fighting a never-ending war," the Doctor now explains it to Jenny all of it now making perfect sense how it all happened. While this was going on Donna notices a digital board with numbers on getting out the notepad writing it down.

"Two armies who are now both outside," Jenny reminds him.

"Look at that!" the older Noble gets their attention to look at the screen before her.

"It's like the numbers we've seen the tunnels," the younger Noble recalls.

"No, no, no, but listen. I spent six months working as a temp in Hounslow Library and I mastered the Dewey Decimal System in two days flat," Donna tells of some number thing that Alice didn't understand herself.

"I'm good with numbers," she implies how good she is showing off slightly.

"Yes that you are smarty pants," Alice mocks with slight sarcasm receiving a look from her sister in return before going on.

"It's staring us in the face," she tries to get them to see.

"What is?" Jenny asks not quite getting it herself.

"It's the date," Donna tells what the numbers mean.

The Doctor now comes over to join her as the younger of the two watched, "Assuming the first two numbers are some big old space date, then you've got year, month, day. It's the other way round, like it is in America," she shows it him explaining as she goes.

"Oh, it's the new Byzantine calendar!" Alice now recalls what it is.

"The codes are completion dates for each section. They finish it, they stamp the date on," Donna figures this was how it was done.

"So the numbers aren't counting down. They're going out from here day by day as the city got built," she goes on that tell it started from here from day one.

"Yes. Oh, good work, Donna!" the Doctor praises her for what she's found out.

"Yeah, but you're still not getting it," but she isn't finished, "The first number I saw back there was 60-12-07-17," she tries to get them to see.

"Well, look at the date today," Donna tells them to look.

"-0-7-24..." he and then Alice now try figure it out before coming to understand what Donna was trying to tell them.

"No," he says thinking this wasn't possible but it was.

"What does it mean?" Jenny asks wanting to know.

"Seven days, that can't be right," Alice says a little shocked looking to her sister.

"That's it! Seven days" she says excited about this discovery.

"Seven days," the Doctor says now getting a more clear sense of it.

"What do you mean, 'seven days'?" the young blonde asks rather confused.

"Jenny it's been seven days since the war broke out," the young Noble explains in reply now getting it herself.

"This war started seven days ago. Just a week. A week ago," Donna then puts it her more simply.

"They said years," Jenny tries to get a grasp on it.

"No. They said generations. And if they're all like you products of those machines..." Alice corrects her and then starts to mention about how it could explain it.

"They could have 20 generations in a day. Each generation gets killed in the war, passes on the legend," the Time Lord goes on to explain.

"On, Donna, you genius!" he praises the older sister.

"But all the buildings, the encampments, they're in ruins," Jenny recalls the state of the city.

"They're not ruined, they're just empty, waiting to be populated," he tells her it's nothing of the sort, "Oh, they've mythologized their entire history," he implies it's all been made up as it got passed on.

"Then the source must be part of that, too," Alice wonders.

"Oh, Alice that is brilliant. Come on!" he now praises the younger Noble before then running off again.

Then not even after running that long they are surprised to find Martha opposite them and boy are they glad to see her. "Doctor!" she calls out with joy rushing up to him.

"Martha!" he says just as happy coming up to her gathering her into his arms for a hug.

"Oh, I should've known you wouldn't stay away from all the excitement," the Doctor says knowingly that she couldn't resist the adventure.

"Donna! Alice!" Martha greets the sisters but both of them try to keep apart due to the state of her clothes.

"Ooh, you're filthy," Alice points out.

"What happened?" Donna asks hoping she's ok.

"I um, took the surface route," she replies how she got here. After they get interrupted by the sound of Cobb who by the looks of things had made it into the ship.

"That's the General. We haven't got much time," the Doctor implies that they need to get a move on.

"We don't even know what we're looking for" Donna says not entirely sure what this thing was while Alice and Martha get a sudden flora scent wafting up their noses.

"Is it me or can you smell flowers?" Martha asks if anyone else could.

"Yeah I can too," the younger Noble replies.

"Yes. Bougainvillea," the replies he can aswell, "I say we follow our nose," he then suggests they find where the smell is coming from and then run off again going up another flight of stairs.

 **-Doctor Who-**

Before they are walking through something that Alice could only describe as a rainforest. "Oh, yes!" the Doctor says liking what he saw before him. "Yes!" the he goes on say still rather enjoying it. "Isn't this brilliant?" he asks what the others thought of it.

"It's incredible," the young Noble replies still finding it hard to belive what was surrounding them and on a rocket of all things.

The Doctor then tosses his coat on a ledge nearby while the others go over to look at something entirely magical in a glass orb that is full of green and yellow sparkling gas. "Is that the source?" Donna asks if this is what they had looked for.

"It's beautiful," Jenny says rather amazed by it.

"What is it?" Martha asks.

"Terraforming. It's a third-generation terraforming device," he informs her in reply.

"So why are we suddenly in Kew Gardens?" Alice asks the Doctor as it seemed to reminded her of the tropical plant house when she went on a school trip there.

"Cause that's what it does. All this only bigger, much bigger. It's in a transit all this must help keep it stable before they find..." he explains to the young Noble before then being interrupted by the sound of crashing and heavy clad feet both Hath and human on opposite ends of each other.

"Stop! Hold your fire!" the Doctor begs of them as they take aim at each other.

"What is this, some kind of trap?" Cobb asks thinking the Doctor is deceiving him.

"You said you wanted this war over" he tries to remind the General.

"I want this war won!" but he doesn't see it that way.

"You can't win. No one can," the Doctor tries to get them to see reason.

"You don't even know why you're here. Your whole history, it's just Chinese whispers, getting more distorted the more it's passed on," he tells them that what they have fought for is based on nothing but lies, "This is the source. This is what you're fighting over, a device to rejuvenate a planet's ecosystem. It's nothing mystical. It's from a laboratory, not some creator. It's a bubble of gases, a cocktail of stuff for accelerated evolution. Methane, hydrogen, ammonia, amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids. It's used to make barren planets habitable," then shows it to them telling what it did and what it really was for.

"Look around you. It's not for killing. It's for bringing life," the Doctor tells them to have a good look at what is before them, "If you allow it, it can lift you out of these dark tunnels and into the bright, bright sunlight. No more fighting, no more killing," he gets them to see it doesn't have to be this way and Alice knew he was right as she admired his words of wisdom that almost nearly make her cry.

He then lifts the globe of gases of its stand holding it up by his head, "I'm the Doctor and I declare this war is over," he demands it stops before then throwing it to the ground as it then broke into many pieces releasing the gas. It floats upwards through the air in a golden vapour the Hath and humans breathing it in before it then now appears above them swirling and dancing.

It that when human and Hath alike put down their weapons like a sudden understanding had come over them. "What's happening?" Alice asks coming over along with Jenny who was rather intrigued looking up.

"The gases will escape and trigger the terraforming process."

"What does that mean?" the young blonde asks.

"It means a whole new world," he replies to her simply and they have a bit of a laugh and a smile.

Before then both the young women spot something out the corner of their vision General Cobb aiming a gun at the Doctor sent fear through them both knowing that losing him wasn't something that wasn't something they wanted to risk. "Doctor!" Alice calls for him to look out as a shot is fired pulling him out the way but gets shot in the shoulder before then gasping in pain making Martha and Donna come to her aid.

"No!" Jenny shouts coming in front of the Doctor in defense but it's too late before the second shot hits her square in the chest.

He then catches Jenny as she falls bringing her down gently to the ground as she clasped her chest. "Jenny. Jenny. Talk to me, Jenny," he checks that she is still alive while Martha checked her over and Donna helped Alice keep pressure on her wound both of them look on at the heartbreaking scene before them.

"Is she gonna...be... alright?" the young Noble asks weakly but Martha shakes her head in reply that the outlook didn't look good on Jenny surviving.

Jenny laughs weakly looking at the mist above with smile, "A new world. It's beautiful," she speaks knowing that she would never see it, "Jenny, please hold on. You need to hold on, do you hear me?" the Doctor pleads for her to stay strong. "We've got things to do, you and me, eh? Eh? We can go anywhere. Everywhere. You choose," he tries to tell Jenny she's needed that she could travel trying not give up hope.

"Sounds good," she agrees with as much strength she could muster. "You're my daughter and we've only just got started," the Doctor now accepts her for who she is that she's part of him as he now strokes her face. Alice could have never felt more sorry for him now knowing he had lost his own children before, "You're gonna to be great. You're gonna be more than great. You're going to be amazing. Do you hear me, Jenny?" he tells her hoping she will do him proud but he gets a response of a last gasp of breath and dies in his arms.

The Doctor cradles Jenny in his arms before realising something, "Two hearts. Two hearts, just like me. If we wait, we just wait..." he recalls that not all could be lost that she could come back like he would after death.

"There's no sign Doctor. There's no regeneration. She's like you, but maybe not enough," Martha tells him there is no possibility of it happening.

"No. Too much. That's the truth of it. She was too much like me," the Doctor tells it as it is that he saw so much of him in her that it was painful. In doing so he now lays her on the floor fully and kisses her forehead gently and then his expression changes to that one of grief and anger as he now rises to his feet. Alice could feel his pain radiating of him wishing she could help him with it but she was unable to move.

Getting to his feet in a few strides picks up the gun that hurt and killed the people he cared about the most pointing it Cobb's head as the companions and others looked on in fright hoping he wouldn't go through with it but Alice didn't stay awake long enough to find out. "I never would. Have you got that?" he implies that he didn't have it in him to kill another. "I never would."

"When you start this new world, this world of human and Hath, remember that! Make the foundation of this society a man who never would!" the Doctor declares to them that they should do in anger before then tossing the gun aside before then going to sit down beside Jenny.

 **-Doctor Who-**

It was after that Jenny was laid out before them that sudden rays of light come through only the tops of the windows in the theatre it was starting the process of new life. "It's happening. The terraforming," Martha notices as do the others in the room Alice who had come round awhile ago was looking on from a box she was sitting on that was beside the Doctor who was standing in silence.

"Build a city nice and safe underground, strip away the top soil and there it is," Donna says.

"And what about Jenny?" Alice asks what will happen to her sadden by the death of the young woman.

"Let us give her a proper ceremony. I think it would help us. Please," the young man suggests that it would benefit everyone to give her a proper send off.

Now all back on the TARDIS there was a question that had been asked why the ship had brought them here in the first place, "Jenny was the reason the for the TARDIS bringing us here. It just got here to soon, which then created Jenny in the first place," the Doctor implies that the ship had gotten here too early, "Paradox. An endless paradox," the Doctor implies resting against the jumpseat Alice was sitting on while she listened.

"Time to go home," he tells Martha looking to her knowing she would not be coming back.

"Yeah. Home," she replies with a small smile that she couldn't agree more. Before the Doctor pulls down the lever setting the ship in motion doing this and that to take her back.

"Are you sure about this?" Donna asks Martha as hoping the young doctor would stay but her mind was made up while the Doctor and Alice stepped out of the TARDIS closing the door following behind.

"Yeah. Positive. I can't do this any more," she tells that she needs to move on now, "You and Alice will be the same one day," Martha implies that the sisters would stop at some point as Alice comes to catch up to them with a light jog being careful of her bandages on her shoulder.

"Not me, never. How can I ever go back to normal life after seeing this?" Donna tells Martha she never could and asks how it would be if she left after everything she's been through.

"Martha we're going to travel with that man forever," Alice chips in to the conversation telling Martha there was nothing stopping the Noble sisters anytime soon looking over to the Doctor who was now nearly close to them.

Martha first gives Donna a hug then Alice being mindful of her wound, "Look after yourself all right," she tells the young woman to take care.

"I will I promise," she takes her word before then pulling away.

"Good luck," she now tells them both.

"And you," Donna tells her.

She now walks the rest of the way back to her home with the Doctor by her side, "We're making a habit of this," he tells her this has happened to often now.

"Yeah, and you'd think it'd get easier," Martha informs him that it's never easy,

"All those things you've been ready to die for. I thought for a moment there you'd finally found something worth living for," she then says thinking that when he had found Jenny she made him that much better in himself.

"Oh, there's always something worth living for, Martha," he tells her not worry looking over his shoulder at the young Noble, who was chatting away with her sister while not knowing she's worth something to him. It left a small smirk on Martha's face as she knew that look in his eyes while he glanced at the young woman before he then turns his head and she changes her expression and then give each other a hug.

"Bye, Doctor" Martha now bids him farewell.

"Goodbye, Dr Jones" he tells her before then turning to walk away to join the sisters and make their way back to the TARDIS to let Martha get on with her life.


	7. The Truth Revealed

**The Truth Revealed**

 **Disclaimer:** Alice  & Ariana belong to me the rest is BBC.

Soon as the group entered through the doors of the TARDIS the Doctor throws his coat onto the coral beam nearby before approaching the console. "So where to next then?" he asked enthusiastically, looking over to Alice and Donna who are standing on the other side of the console.

"Doctor, if you don't mind Alice and I thought it would be best if we had a break for a few days before going anywhere else" Donna replied telling him honestly want they really wanted to do. Wanting to take some much needed rest especially after what her sister had been through taking her well being into account.

"That's alright with you isn't it Doc?" Alice asked hoping that he wouldn't mind.

"Yeah, yeah sure not a problem," the Time Lord confirmed with a small sniff simply understanding that the sisters needed their time to recuperate.

"Right, I'm off to bed, I feel like I've been run over by a bus," Alice announced her departure, finishing with a yawn, that the Doctor can't help but find adorable, "Night sis," hugs Donna who gives her a peck on the cheek before moving onto the Doctor, "Night Doctor," But the Doctor wished he could have held her for a couple seconds longer soon as she left his arms.

It had been a couple of hours since the Noble sisters retired to bed. And this gave the Doctor time alone to be with his thoughts. Alice had almost gotten herself killed saving his life today. If she had died, Ariana would have been lost along with her as well. That was something he dreaded the most of all and losing her would break his hearts. This was a wake up call for the Doctor and he knew that the young woman needed to be told the truth.

Alice woke up a couple hours later to her irritated shoulder wound, that was itching and burning like crazy. Getting up out of her bed, she grabs her turquoise dressing gown on the way out of her bedroom. She heads along the corridor towards the console room, knowing this would be the most likely place to find the Doctor. Coming into the room she searches about for the Time Lord, only to find his blue clad trouser legs and red converse poking out from underneath the console on a trolley. The sound of the sonic whirring away, as he fixed something that probably didn't need to doing.

"Doctor," the soft familiar voice of a certain Noble sister grabs his attention. He stops whatever he was doing and pulls himself out from underneath the console. Alice is standing there before him in her turquoise dressing gown, paired with some spotty white and sky blue pyjama bottoms, along with a plain white vest top and her strawberry-blonde locks messily plaited down on the right hand side of her head.

"What you doing up?" he asked her with genuine concern, as he leaned against the console, "You alright?" He sees the rather worrying expression all over her face.

"My shoulder was bothering me," Alice tells of her complaint, pulling a face as the wound itched once again, "Could you take a look at it?" she asked of the Time Lord, concerned that it might be infected.

"All right, hop up and I'll give it check over," he tells her to get up patting the seat. In doing so Alice takes off her dressing gown placing it beside her as she got up and sat down.

She moves the strap of her pyjama top aside, being mindful of the bandage on her injured shoulder, "Right, let's have a look," the Doctor tells her as he slowly peels the bandage away. And in doing so it reveals nothing but the smooth skin of her shoulder, fully healed no bullet wound in sight. He had no doubt that this was Ariana's doing and that her healing ability had done this.

"Doctor is everything all right?" Alice asked seeing the uneasy wide eyed look on his face, as he nervously ran a hand through his already messy hair, staring at her shoulder. It gave her the impression that there might be actually something wrong.

She looks down at it her shoulder, eyes widened like saucers in complete shock and confusion to see her shoulder is fully healed, "W-what... h-how is this p-possible?" Alice asked rhetorically, starting to stumble over her words thoroughly freaked out gets off the jump seat and starts pacing about the room, "I was... I was only shot a couple of hours ago and yet it's just magically vanished like it never happened, I don't understand what's..." she rambles on still pacing, before the Doctor stopped her pacing guiding her back over to the jump seat.

"Alice, I might be able to explain what's been going on with you," He kneels before the young woman gazing up into her warm brown eyes, "But you need to understand that I didn't intend to hide this from you for so long," He confesses to her taking a deep breath.

"Hide what from me?" she seethed rhetorically getting off the jump seat moving away from him, "From the very fact that you've been lying to my face for the last couple of days or weeks Doctor!" feeling a little betrayed that she'd been lied to.

"Like you hadn't bothered to tell me something was wrong since that time in Pompeii when you had passed out!"he retorted back, turning to look at Alice knowing she wasn't the only one that had been doing the very same to him.

"I was going to tell you!" she shouted back tears on the verge spilling out of her eyes, "But you know what's going on with me, so tell me the truth! Because I don't understand anything that's been happening to me," she breaks down, wetness traveling down her cheeks

"Alice the locket around your neck," the Doctor started explaining, going up putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, "It belongs to someone, a good friend of mine from home I thought she was dead a long time ago."

"She's in here then?" she asked still wanting to understand, fiddling with the locket between her fingers looking down at it.

"Yes she's in there and the things that have been happening to you are all her even your healed shoulder," nodded in reply.

"So... your telling me that I'm an alien, like you?" she tried asking after a couple of seconds trying to let this new information sink in.

"Yes, your from Gallifrey like me and that locket contains the very last Time Lady in existence the Healer. That's you," He explained somewhat happily, a grin on his face looking down at Alice.

It now explained so much over the past couple of weeks, "So what would happen if I opened it?" Alice wanting to know of anything drastic would happen, now looking up into the Time Lords eyes.

"It will change you back, from thoughts, to feelings, to memories and your healing abilities plus it will hurt," the Doctor explained honestly what could happen having being through it himself when he had to go into hiding with Martha after being a human for three months.

It was that eventually shortly after that Donna is told the truth about her sister of what she was and accepted it rather well. But it was that upon an agreed decision with the Doctor and herself she would only open the watch, if either her life was in grave danger or that she was on deaths door. Having been told of the consequences of what regeneration entailed that she would become someone else completely.

And it would soon for Alice Noble that she would meet her demise.


	8. The Unicorn and the Wasp Part 1

**The Unicorn and the Wasp**

 **Part 1**

 **Disclaimer:** Alice Noble and Ariana belong to me and the rest is BBC.

After having time to recover over the death of Jenny, the Doctor's daughter and also since having coming to terms of the who Alice was. Along with the promise that she made with the Doctor. They were supposed to be heading to the planet Zog, but the TARDIS had other plans in mind and materialised inside the grounds of a grand old manor house instead. The trio of travellers stepped out of the Police Box, glancing at the magnificent house before their eyes. Both of the Noble sisters are standing on either side of the Time Lord, who was wearing his coat hands stuffed into his trouser pockets.

"Oh, smell that air," The Doctor happily put taking a breath, "Grass and lemonade. And a little bit of mint. A hint of mint. Must be the nineteen twenties," He hazards a guess, of what year there in using his nose.

"You can tell what year it is just by smelling?" Donna asked, surprised by this.

"Oh, yeah," He confirmed with a nod of his head, while Alice honestly thought he was just showing off as per usual, as she rolled her eyes.

"Well, maybe the big vintage car coming up the drive gave it away," The blonde pointed out knowingly, giving him a nudge in the side getting him to look at the vehicle just parking outside the house, it's driver beeping the horn. The trio quickly ducked behind the corner of the house, poked their heads round to see a butler talking to two men, one dressed in reverend's attire.

"Never mind Planet Zog," Donna commented happily as snippets of the men's conversation floated over, the word 'party' gets mentioned, "A party in the 1920s, that's more like it.

"But we haven't been invited," Alice pointed out.

"Oh, I forgot..." he pulled out the psychic paper, "Yes, we have."

"Excellent!" Donna laughed joyfully grabbing her little sister's arm and quickly dragging her back to the TARDIS, "Come, on let's get ready!"

 **-Doctor Who-**

The Time Lord sighed for what felt like a hundredth time before knocking on the TARDIS door, "We'll be late for cocktails!" he shouted impatiently. Had he'd know idea why women took so impossibly long to get ready.

Donna finally makes her appearance and stepped out of the TARDIS door wearing an appropriate period, sleeveless, flapper styled dress, "What do you think? Flapper or slapper?"

"Flapper," he smiled kindly, "You look lovely."

"Like my hair?" she asked, showing the intricate bun that it was pulled up into, "Alice suggested it, so she done it for me."

"Speaking of your sister," he nods, "Where's she got to?"

"Just coming!" Alice called from inside the TARDIS. She came out and leaned against the doorframe sliding on a pair of silver heels, "Don't know about running in these but they'll have do anyway," looking up she sees the Doctor staring at her, eyes wide as saucers, mouth hung open. Donna had teased Alice, that she had dressed up to impress a certain Time Lord and denied that it wasn't for him. But it was.

"So how do I look?" She gave a slow twirl so the entire outfit could be seen. It was a pale blue, long dress with a dropped waist, a wavy skirt partly at the bottom and embellished in different silver geometric patterns all over, a small v-shaped neckline and straps. Hair was sitting down to one side in elegant waves, an ornate silver hairpin placed into her strawberry blonde locks. To him, Alice looked like she truly belonged in the 1920s.

"You look..." he gulped, being rather speechless trying to get his words out, "Beautiful," making the young woman trying not to force herself from blushing at the compliment.

He now offered out his arms, the sisters linking theirs with his as they headed around to the back garden of the manor. The green was laid out with tables, servants finishing the final touches with the food and drink. Soft music drifted through the air to give some atmosphere from a gramophone as the housekeeper shouted out her orders to the staff.

"Good afternoon!" the Doctor greeted, as the trio arrived.

"Drink, sir?" the butler offered, stepping up to them, "Ma'am's?"

"Sidecar, please." Donna ordered.

"Gin Rickey, please."

"And a lime and soda, thank you," the Doctor ordered for himself, knowing well enough that Time Lords didn't do well with alcohol.

"May I announce Lady Clemency Eddison," a man announced as a older petite woman with blonde hair made her appearance, fashionably dressed up in blue.

"Lady Eddison!" the Doctor greeted rather warmly, shaking her hand.

"Forgive me, but who exactly might you be... and what are you doing here?" Lady Eddison asked the three politely.

"I'm the Doctor," he introduced, before nodding his head to the sisters, "And these are my friends, Miss Donna and Alice Noble... of the Chiswick Nobles."

"Good afternoon, my lady," Donna tried sounding posh as she curtseyed, "Topping day, what? Spiffing. Top ho!"

"For Gods sake Donna," her sister told her off through gritted teeth in a whisper, rather embarrassed, "Don't do that."

The Doctor showed the psychic paper, "We were thrilled to receive your invitation, my lady. We met at the Ambassador's reception."

"Doctor, how could I forget you?" Lady Eddison gave a nod recalling she had seen him before, "But one must be sure with the Unicorn on the loose."

"A unicorn?" his eyes widened excitedly, "Brilliant. Where?"

" _The Unicorn_. The jewel thief? Nobody knows who he is. He's just struck again. Snatched Lady Babbington's pearls right from under her nose."

"Funny place to wear pearls," Donna comments as their drinks are brought over them by a footman.

"It's an expression Donna," Alice shook her head, before taking her drink as Donna rolled her eyes.

"May I announce Colonel Hugh Curbishley, the Honourable Roger Curbishley," another announcement was made. A young man arrived, along with an older gentleman in the wheelchair he was pushing.

"My husband," Lady Eddison indicated to them, "And my son."

"Forgive me for not rising," Hugh nods at them upon arriving at Lady Eddison's side, "Never been the same ever since that flu epidemic back in '18."

"My word," Roger turned to Alice looking her over, "You are a simply sublime."

"Oh," Alice blushes, "I like the cut of your jib."

"And you are just the same," he added to Donna.

"Hello. I'm the Doctor," the Time Lord cuts in extending his hand in greeting, not liking the way he had felt in the pit of his stomach when Roger looked at Alice when ogling her over.

Donna couldn't help but smirk about this as she took a sip of her drink. She couldn't help but notice that over the last few months how protective the Doctor had become around her sister lately. So of course it would be rather obvious that he'd get jealous over another bloke flirting with her.

"How do you do?" Roger nodded.

"Very well," the Doctor plastered a grin on his face, the grip on Roger's had might have a little harder than it should have.

A servant, a young man, approached with a tray that had a single drink on, "Your usual, sir?"

"Ah. Thank you, Davenport," he turned to the young man, "Just how I like it."

"How come she's an Eddison, but her husband and son are Curbishleys?" Donna asked the Doctor, seeing that the family was distracted.

"The Eddison title descends through her," he explained quietly, "One day Roger will be a lord."

"Robina Redmond," another guest is announced. The young woman was dressed rather fashionably in red comes to join them, "She's the absolute hit of the social scene. A must," Lady Eddison murmured happily to the trio before walking towards her, "Miss Redmond."

"Spiffing to meet you at last, my lady. What super fun," Robina returned her greeting.

"Reverend Arnold Golightly," another announcement came in the form of the man they had saw outside the front of the house earlier.

"Ah, Reverend," Lady Eddison went up to meet him, "How are you? I heard about the church last Thursday night. Those ruffians breaking in."

"You apprehended them, I hear," her husband added.

"As the Christian Fathers taught me, we must forgive them their trespasses," he replied to them, "Quite literally."

"Some of these young boys deserve a descent thrashing," Roger stated in agreement.

"Couldn't agree more, sir," the servant Davenport passed him another drink, sharing a look and Roger cleared his throat.

"Typical," Donna mumbled disappointedly to the other two, "All the decent men are on the other bus."

"They clearly are," Alice agreed with her sister taking a sip of her drink.

"Or Time Lords," the Doctor added sending a smirk, nearly making the sisters snigger in a unladylike manner.

"Now, my lady. What about this special guest you promised us?" the reverend asked with interest.

"Here she is!" Lady Eddison voiced excitedly about her important guest, "A lady who needs no introduction."

They turned to applaud the blonde woman in a blue dress walking towards over to them, Alice noticed the woman looked rather nervous about the attention she was getting but just got on with it.

"No, no," she waved off the applause politely, "Please, don't. Thank you, Lady Eddison. Honestly, there's no need," she catches the sights of the three standing off at the side and walked over to give Donna's hand a shake, "Agatha Christie."

"What about her?" Donna asked.

"That's me."

Alice almost nearly dropped her drink. "No!"she gasped, eyes going wide.

Donna eyes widened in pure excitement as did the Doctor's, "You're kidding!"

"Agatha Christie!" the Doctor reached out and shook her hand, "I was just talking about you the other day. I said, 'I bet she's brilliant.' I'm the Doctor, this is Alice and that's Donna. Oh, I love your stuff. What a mind. You fool me every time. Well... almost every time. Well, once or twice. Well... once. But it was a good once."

"Sorry about him," Alice shook the woman's hand, saving her from the Doctor probably pulling her arm off, "Tends to become bit of an idiot around famous people sometimes."

Agatha gave a laugh and looked between Alice and then the Doctor, "You make a rather unusual couple."

"Oh, no, no, no, no. We're not married," the Doctor sighs at same time that Alice shook her head in denial. It has been probably the third time they've been mistaken for being together.

"We're... we're not a couple," she informed Agatha stumbling over her words, feeling rather uncomfortable about it.

"You don't say?" Donna pretends to be shocked about this giving Alice a knowing look, wishing her sister would just admit how she truly felt about the Doctor. Well him as well it was blatantly obvious to Donna that he cared for her.

"Said he was going to the library," the reverend recalled what the man had told him.

"Donna, Alice," the Doctor whispered. Both looked up as the Doctor waves them over and they came to join him.

"Miss Chandrakala, would you go and collect the Professor?" Lady Eddison asked of her housekeeper.

"At once, Milady," she replied, heading back to the house.

"The date on this newspaper," the Time Lord held it up for them to look at.

"What about it?" Donna asked, giving it a look over.

"It's the day Agatha Christie disappeared without a trace," Alice eyes widen in realisation.

The trio looked to see her smiling and joking away with the guests, "She'd just discovered her husband was having an affair," the Doctor quietly informed them.

"You'd never think to look at her, smiling away," Donna remarked about Agatha's behaviour.

"Well, she's British and moneyed. That's what they do. They carry on. Except for this one time. No one knows exactly what happened. She just vanished. Her car will be found tomorrow morning by the side of a lake. Ten days later, Agatha Christie turns up in a hotel in Harrogate."

"Well, they're obviously not. No wedding rings," Agatha points out with a smile, "Plus he introduced you not her first."

"Oh... you don't miss a trick," the Doctor grinned breaking the awkward tension. Alice just plastered on an impressed smile.

Donna can't help but smirk in silence over how the Doctor didn't seem bothered about Agatha calling him and her sister a couple even though he tried to deny it. She was going to do whatever it took to nudge them both in the right direction.

Agatha looked to Donna, "I'd stay that way if I were you. The thrill is in the chase, never in the capture."

"Mrs Christie, I'm so glad you could come," Lady Eddison called for attention, "I'm one of your greatest followers. I've read all six of your books. Er, is, er, Mister Christie not joining us?"

"Is he needed?" Agatha asked, a sharp edge to her voice, "Can't a woman make her own way in the world?"

"Don't give my wife ideas," Hugh laughs.

"Now Mrs. Christie, I have a question," Roger asked away, "Why a Belgian detective?"

"Excuse me, Colonel," the Doctor steps forward, seeing if he can take the newspaper away from Hugh who lets him with a nod of his head.

"Belgians make such lovely buns," Agatha joked in reply, earning laughter from everyone.

"I say, where on Earth's Professor Peach?" Roger asked noticing one of the guests is missing, "He'd love to meet Mrs. Christie."

"Said he was going to the library," the reverend recalled what the man had told him.

"Donna, Alice," the Doctor whispered. Both looked up as the Doctor waves them over and they came to join him.

"Miss Chandrakala, would you go and collect the Professor?" Lady Eddison asked of her housekeeper.

"At once, Milady," she replied, heading back to the house.

"The date on this newspaper," the Time Lord held it up for them to look at.

"What about it?" Donna asked, giving it a look over.

"It's the day Agatha Christie disappeared without a trace," Alice eyes widen in realisation.

The trio looked to see her smiling and joking away with the guests, "She'd just discovered her husband was having an affair," the Doctor quietly informed them.

"You'd never think to look at her, smiling away," Donna remarked about Agatha's behaviour.

"Well, she's British and moneyed. That's what they do. They carry on. Except for this one time. No one knows exactly what happened. She just vanished. Her car will be found tomorrow morning by the side of a lake. Ten days later, Agatha Christie turns up in a hotel in Harrogate."

"I read somewhere that she claimed it was memory loss," Alice cuts in recalling seeing something about it, "She never ever spoke about it until the day she died, but whatever happened...

"I think it's about to happen," Donna gasps.


	9. The Unicorn and the Wasp Part 2

**Unicorn and the Wasp Part 2**

 **Disclaimer:** Alice belongs to me the rest BBC.

"Professor!" Eddison's housekeeper comes charging out the house, shouting, "The library! Murder! Murder!"

The Doctor, followed by Donna, Alice and Agatha rushed towards the house. Threw the door straight open to the library, rushing in. The Doctor goes straight to the body. But the sisters stay put in shock.

"Oh, my goodness," the butler gasped.

"Bashed on the head," the Time Lord mumbles as he checked over the professors head, "Blunt instrument," he now tapped Peach's watch, "Watch broke as he fell. Time of death was quarter past four," he gets up to go and examine the papers all over the desk.

"A bit of pipe," Donna showed him picking it up, "Call me Hercules Poirot, but I reckon that's blunt enough."

While Alice swore that out the corner of her eye she saw Agatha pick up a bit of paper from the fireplace and place inside her bag.

"Nothing worth killing for in that lot. Dry as dust," he remarks, straightening up.

"Hold on. The Body In The Library?" Donna spoke softly, the Doctor and Alice only hearing her, "I mean, Professor Peach, in the library, with the lead piping?"

"Donna's right, it's more like a game of 'Cluedo,' don't you think?" Alice asked smirking at her sister.

"Let me see!" Lady Eddison's voice echoes in the from the hall.

"Out of my way!" Her husband called straight after.

"Gerald?!" Lady Eddison gasped as she entered upon the sight before her.

"Saints preserve us," the reverend took in a breath off shock.

"Oh, how awful," Robina cried.

"Someone should call the police," Agatha suggested.

"You don't have to," the Doctor in that instant holds up his psychic paper to them, "Chief Inspector Smith from Scotland Yard, known as the Doctor. The Noble's are the plucky young girls who help me out."

"I say," Lady Eddison eyes widened in surprise.

"Mrs Christie was right. Go into the sitting room. I will question each of you in turn."

"Come along," Agatha ushered them out of the library, "Do as the Doctor says. Leave the room undisturbed."

"'The plucky young girls who help me out?'" Donna mimicked taking offence soon as everyone had left.

"Yeah, thanks for that," Alice moodily put glaring at him, crossing her arms in front of her

"No policewomen in 1926," he shrugged unsure what else to tell them, but knew he hit a nerve judging by both their faces.

"I'll pluck you in a minute. Why don't we phone the real police?"

"Well the last thing we want is PC Plod sticking his nose in," the Doctor replied, crouching down scraping something off the wooden floor, "Especially now I've found this," standing up he held it out to show them, "Morphic residue."

"Morphic?" Donna frowns.

"Yeah that doesn't sound very 1926," Alice frowns as well.

"It's left behind when certain species genetically re-encode," the Doctor mumbled still checking the goo over.

"The murderer's an alien?"

"Which means one of that lot is an alien in human form," he sighed.

"Yeah, but think about it. There's a murder, a mystery, and Agatha Christie," Alice voices how weird this all is.

"So?" he asked, giving the residue a sniff with his nose making the sisters turn theirs up, "Happens to me all the time," he finished.

"No, but isn't that a bit weird though," Donna asked him.

"Donna's right, Agatha Christie didn't walk around surrounded by murders. Not really. I mean, that's like meeting Charles Dickens and he's surrounded by ghosts at Christmas."Alice agreed with her sisters question.

"Well…" he started to recall that time...

"Oh, come on!" Donna smirked trying to take him seriously.

"Yeah, come on Doctor," Alice scoffed disbelievingly, "It would be like taking a drive to Enid Blyton's house and finding her having a cream tea with Noddy."

"Could we? Noddy's not real. Is he?" Donna checked with him, "Tell me there's no Noddy."

"There's no Noddy," the Doctor assured her before they headed out the door.

"Next thing you know, you'll be telling me it's like Murder On The Orient Express, and they all did it."

"Murder on the Orient Express?" Agatha appeared from behind the alcove near the stairs.

"Ooo, yeah," Donna gave her a smile, "One of your best."

"But not yet though," Alice quickly whispers to her sister.

"Marvellous idea, though," Agatha pondered aloud in thought, liking the idea.

"Yeah. Tell you what. Copyright Donna Noble, Ok?" Donna asked of her.

"Anyway," the Doctor cuts in, "Agatha and I will question the suspects. Donna, you and Alice search the bedrooms. Look for clues," he whispered the last to them both, "Any more residue."

"You'll need this," he reached into his trouser pockets, pulling out a rather large magnifying glass.

"Is that for real?" Donna asked, glaring at him.

"You can't be serious?" Alice put her hands on her hips.

"Go on. You're both ever so plucky," the Doctor grinned trying to get a rise out of them, as Donna snatched the magnifying glass from him and headed up the stairs.

"I hate you sometimes," Alice said rather annoyed, shaking her head before following after her sister up the stairs.

"No you don't," he called after her knowing well there would be a smile on her face.

"Are certainly sure your not a couple?" Agatha questions the Doctor.

"Right then," he brushed off her question completely, getting back to the matter at hand, "Solving a murder mystery with Agatha Christie. Brilliant!"

 **-Doctor Who-**

Whilst the Doctor was now interviewing the suspects along with Agatha, the Noble sisters were snooping around upstairs and had found nothing to go on except for clothes, jewellery, and books in the guests bedrooms. Almost about to give up they come across a door only to find it locked. It made Alice wish they had the Doctor's sonic to open it.

"You won't find anything in there," the butler informed appearing behind them making them jump.

"How come it's locked?" Donna asked.

"Lady Eddison commands it to be so."

"And we command it to be otherwise. Scotland Yard. Pip, pip," Alice ordered the butler.

"Why's it locked in the first place?" Donna asked with interest, as the butler unlocked the door.

"Many years ago, when my father was butler to the family, Lady Eddison returned from India with malaria," he answered, "She locked herself in this room for six months until she recovered. Since then, the room has remained undisturbed," The door creaked rather loudly as Donna opened it, you could tell it hadn't been used in a long time, "There's in here."

"How long has this room been empty?"Inside Alice spots a single sorry looking wooden bed with a old teddy bear sat upon on it, raggedy curtains drawn across the windows. Also some shelves, a bureau, fireplace and the whole room every surface top to bottom was covered in thick dust and cobwebs.

"Forty years."

"Why would she seal it off?" Donned mumbled only to herself before turning back to the butler, "All right, we need to investigate. You just… butle off," she shuts the door as he turned and walked off. Looking around she sees Alice by the bed, holding the teddy bear, "Why are you holding the bear?"

"Don't know, trying to figure out why it would be here in the first place," Alice responded looking down at the teddy.

Donna comes over to stand beside her, "Could it be a clue you think?"

"Might be… but let's hang onto it just in case."

She nodded in agreement with her sister and took it to look at and smiled, "I got you a teddy once for your fourth birthday… remember?"

Alice smiled recalling the memory, "Yes, I remember," she still had that very teddy sitting upon her bed, many years later and it had been everywhere with her since she had finished University.

"It was the only thing that could help you sleep," Donna laughed.

Alice nodded laughing along with her, remembering the nights she had a tantrums because her mum would try to wash the bear before going to bed, "It was the only thing that would help me," she points out, "If not, you, mum and dad would have had many nights of restless sleep to deal with."

Her elder sister thought about it, nodding, "Not wrong there."

A buzzing suddenly caught their ears, "Don, can you hear that?"

"Yeah I hear it," Donna stops whatever she's doing and listens out for it, "Definitely sounds like a bee," Donna sighed, "So in 1926, there's still bees," she rants heading towards the window where the buzzing could be heard. And it was getting louder, "Oh, what a noise. All right, busy bee, I'll let you out. Hold on," she makes her voice go posh, "I shall find you with my amazing powers of detection."

Alice gave a small laugh shaking her head. Just as her sister drew back the curtains with her free hand. In that instant she screamed seeing a giant wasp at the window.

"That's impossible!"

The teddy bear instantly fell from Alice's grasp, she dashed over to her sister and tugged on her arm pulling her towards the bedroom door, "Doctor!" they screamed together.

An idea quickly came to Alice, grabbing the magnifying glass from her sister, she held it up to the sunlight, aiming it just at the right angle the beam of light hits the wasp. As it was screeching in pain, she reached the doorknob turning it quickly pulling Donna out with her and slamming it shut behind them catching their breath.

"Doctor!" Donna only called for him this time, her cry for help probably echoing throughout the grand house. Just as the giant stinger pierced through the door both of the sisters screamed jumping away from the door. It's only just now that the Doctor and Agatha showed up seeing both women wide eyed and clutching their chests.

"There is a giant… wasp!" Donna exclaimed, running halfway down the

"What do you mean, a giant wasp?" the Time Lord demanded.

"We mean a wasp… that's giant!" Alice exclaimed voice going high pitched trying to him to understand what their saying.

Agatha frowned looking at the women as if they've gone mad, "It's only a silly little insect."

Donna swallowed hard,"When we say giant, we don't mean big, we mean flippin' enormous!"

Her sister pointed towards the door, "Look at the size of the sting it left behind!"

The Doctor's eyes widened, seeing the stinger poking through the wooden door, "Let me see!" pushing the door open and running to inside the room, only to find it completely empty and no wasp in sight, except for the broken window it probably come through, "It's gone. Buzzed off," he dashed over to the window.

"But that's fascinating…" Agatha murmured eyeing the stinger with utter fascination, Donna and Alice nearby.

"Wouldn't touch that if I were you Agatha," Alice advised to the author in warning, watching as her nearly reached for the stinger that she could only guess is poisonous.

"Don't touch it," the Doctor agreed with her coming over, "Don't touch it. Let me," he kneeled before the stinger and pulled a vial with a stopper out of his pocket, scooping the substance inside it with a pencil, "Giant wasp… well, tons of amorphous insectivorous lifeforms, but... none in this galactic vector."

"I think I understood some of those words," Agatha eyed him curiously, "Enough to know that you're completely potty."

"Yeah, you get used to the sciencey talk after being with him for awhile," Alice commented, looking down at him with admiration. The Doctor can't help but smile about it.

"Lost its sting, though," Donna pointed out, "That makes it defenceless."

"Oh, a creature this size?" he scoffed, "Got to be able to grow a new one."

"Can we return to sanity?" Agatha stared at the trio, "There are no such things as giant wasps."

"Exactly! So… the question is, what's it doing here?"

The group of four walked down the stairs, when a shrill scream from outside pierced their ears and they ran straight outside, finding Miss Chandrakala, Lady Eddison's housekeeper pinned under a stone gargoyle, "The poor…little...child," she breathed her last words before dying.

Looking up, loud buzzing is heard above them, "There!" the Doctor shouted as the wasp whisked past and towards the house, and Alice noticed it had grown a new stinger just the Doctor said it would, "Come on!" the group run back inside after it, chasing it up the staircase..

"This is different, for a change," Alice remarks, "There's a monster, and we're the ones chasing it."

"It can't be a monster," Agatha insisted, "It's a trick. They do it with mirrors," having reached the top, they stopped dead in their tracks seeing the giant wasp, "By all that's holy…"

"Oh, but you are wonderful," the Doctor beamed in excitement as he came face to face with it, only to lose his grin as it prepared to attack realising Alice and Donna are beside him, "Now, just stop. Stop there…"

But the wasp ignored his instruction, charging straight at them stinger first nearing Alice. He pulled her down quickly, just missing it by inches, shielding her body with his.

"Oi!" Donna grabs the wasps attention, glaring angrily at it for almost harming her sister, "Flyboy!" she holds up the magnifying glass remembering how startling it with the light until it flew away.

"Don't let it get away! Quick, before it reverts back to human form!" they chased it down to the hallway where the guests are staying, "Where are you? Come on! There's nowhere to run... show yourself!" all of doors in the hallway opened with everyone staring back at him, "Oh...that's just cheating," he pouted in disappointment.

Alice patted the Time Lord's shoulder in reassurance whilst waving awkwardly at everyone with her free hand, "Uh, hello."


	10. The Unicorn and the Wasp Part 3

**The Unicorn and the Wasp Part 3**

 **Disclaimer:** Alice belongs to me the rest BBC.

"My faithful companion!" Lady Eddison sobbed as they all sat in the drawing room. The awful news had just been broken to everyone of the Housekeeper Miss Chandrakala's death. The atmosphere was nothing but a little depressing, "This is terrible!"

"I'm so sorry for your loss…" Alice offered her condolences, passing a tissue to her, taking it and blowing her nose.

"Excuse me, my lady," Davenport recalled to Lady Eddison stepping in, coming to stand behind the sofa, "She was on her way to tell you something."

"She never found me. She had an appointment with death instead!" Alice moved from her spot beside the Doctor, sitting in the free space on the left as her son occupied the other and gave her arm a comforting pat.

It's now that the Doctor speaks up, "She said, 'the poor little child'. Does that mean anything to anyone?" he asked looking at each everyone of them.

"No children in this house for years," Hugh shook his head before glancing over to his son Roger who Alice sees him avoiding it, "Highly unlikely there will be."

"Mrs Christie, you must have twigged something..." Lady Eddison turned to her, "You've written simply the best detective stories."

"Tell us, what would Poirot do?" Revered Golightly agrees.

"Heavens sake. Cards On The Table, woman. You should be helping us!" Hugh slammed down his fist on the armrest of his wheelchair.

"But… I'm merely a writer," Agatha countered with a stutter.

"But surely you can crack it," Robina remarked leaning forward, "These events, they're exactly like one of your plots."

Alice nodded, "It's exactly like your books."

"That's what I've been saying," Donna added on with a nod, "Agatha, that's got to mean something."

"But what?" Agatha protests with a shake of her head, "I've no answers. None," she sighs heavily looking down at her feet, "I'm sorry, all of you. I'm truly sorry, but I've failed. If anyone can help us, then it's the Doctor, not me."

All eyes went on the Time Lord, except for Alice who is gazing at Agatha, feeling rather sorry for the woman.

 **-Doctor Who-**

Whilst Donna had gone out into the gardens to have a chat with Agatha to give the woman some reassurance seeing as she understood what she was going through. Alice on the other hand stayed behind in the sitting room with the Doctor. They aren't left alone too long as Agatha and Donna returned with something interesting in their possession.

The Doctor opened up the case upon the coffee table, it was rolled out showing an array of tools inside, the lock-picking kind, "Ooh... Someone came here tooled up…the sort of stuff a thief would use," he now comments.

"The Unicorn. He's here!" Agatha gasps.

"Could be a he or a she," Alice points out to them.

"The Unicorn and the wasp," the Doctor mutters.

Greeves enters the sitting room with a tray, "Your drinks, ladies. Doctor."

The Doctor thanks, smiling at the butler as he stood up, taking a drink from the tray with Agatha, Alice and Donna taking theirs as well, "Very good, Greeves."

He nods before leaving the room and the Doctor sits back down in his seat.

"How about the science stuff?" Donna asks, looking at him, "What did you find?"

" Vespiform sting," he responds, leaning back in the seat taking a sip from his drink pulling it back before continuing, "Vespiforms have got hives in the Silfrax galaxy."

"And…" Alice says slowly, gesturing with her hand for him to go on.

Agatha remarks with a sigh, "Again, you talk like Edward Lear.

"And for some reason, this one's behaving like a character in one of your books," the Doctor took another sip of his drink.

"Come on, Agatha," Donna looks to her, "What would Miss Marple do? She'd have overheard something vital by now, because the murderer thinks she's just a harmless old lady."

"Clever idea," Agatha gives it a thought, "Miss Marple? Who writes those?"

Alice elbows her sister to give a response, "Er, copyright Donna Noble. Add it to the list."

"Alice… Donna…"

"Okay, we could split the copyright."

"No, something's wrong," Alice could see it from the pained expression on his face.

"She's right," his voice comes out a little off as , "Something's inhibiting my enzymes!"

He jerks forward crying out, "Argh!

Immediately, Alice, Donna and Agatha rushed to his aid. The young Nobles heart was beating hard against her chest, "What's wrong?!" her voice comes out frantic matching the expression on her face. She didn't know what she would do he if regenerated.

"I've been poisoned!" he doubled over in pain, grabbing Alice's arm making the young woman panic all the more.

Donna was just the same, "What do we do?! What do we do?!"

Agatha picked up his glass, sniffing it, "Bitter almonds. It's cyanide," she gasps, "Sparkling Cyanide!"

The Doctor let's go of Alice, charging out of the room as they ran behind him to keep up. They just get inside the kitchen as he's pouring beer in his mouth, getting some of it over him.

"I'm an expert in poisons, Doctor!" Agatha cries, "There's no cure. It's fatal."

The Time Lord spits out the beer, quickly he gripped onto Alice's arm rather hard trying to fight the pain, knowing he couldn't really bear the thought of regenerating right now and got the sense she wouldn't be able to cope. This was the last thing he wanted to put her through and he was going to fight this for her because he come to care for her a great deal in the time he's known her. More than he was willing to admit as he looked in her eyes, "Not for me. I can stimulate the inhibited enzymes into reversal. Protein! I need protein!"

Soon as he finished speaking, Agatha and Donna searched the kitchen for something that he required. Alice still letting him hold onto her not really caring about the painful grip of his hand on her and she was letting him do it because she cared. Not because of the hand print he would leave there afterwards.

"Walnuts!" Donna shouted, holding them to him with the lid open.

"Brilliant!" the Doctor grabs a handful from the jar shovelling them in like an greedy animal. His mouth is full of the walnuts and he can't even speak and he lets go of Alice needing his other hand and starts to mime

"I can't understand you!" Donna told him, but Alice knew how to play a game of charades to understand what he was saying. "

"How many words?" she asked and he held up a finger, "One. One word," she pondered as he mimed it.

"Shake. Milk shake. Milk? Milk? No, not milk?" Donna tried taking a crack at it but failed miserably, "Shake, shake, shake. Cocktail shaker. What do you want, a Harvey Wallbanger?"

"Harvey Wallbanger?!"

"Well, I don't know!"

"How is Harvey Wallbanger one word Donna?" Alice questioned rolling her eyes.

"What do you need, Doctor?" Agatha asked.

"Salt! He wants salt!" It comes to Alice in a flash.

"Salt!" he nodded, feeling gratitude towards her for figuring it out, "I was miming salt. It's salt. I need something salty!"

"What about this?" Donna held up a big brown paper bag.

"What is it?"

"Salt."

"No, too salty."

Donna rolled her eyes with a bit of exasperation, dropping it back down on the floor, "Oh, that's too salty!"

The young Noble spots something nearby that can help, grabbing the jar quickly she tossed it to the Doctor, who catches it, "What about this?"

He opens the jar downing the contents, "What's that?" Donna asked.

Alice cringed and so did Donna, "Anchovies," both the the sisters had a disliking for them.

Having finished the Doctor started miming again, his hands up and palms flashing.

"What is it?" Donna shakes her head, "What else? It's a song? 'Mammy?' I don't know. 'Camptown Races?'"

"'Camptown Races?!'" he exclaims voice nearly going high pitched.

"Well, all right then, 'Towering Inferno'"

"It's a shock!" he explained manically flashing his hands with the gesture once again, "Look, shock. I need a shock!"

But Alice didn't need to say it, knowing that she was kissing him for the first time (of course she's kissed other guys before) but she's dreamed of this soo many times of how it would go. She was willing to risk this kiss to save his life, for her Doctor. Quickly grabbing his face, she pressed her lips to his hard. Alice feels a electrifying warmth tingling throughout her body as he responded and saw fireworks behind her eyes. Boy was he an phenomenal kisser.

Donna watched on receiving a shock of her own, that her sister was being so bold on showing on how much she cared for him and that maybe, just maybe neither of them needed her help to get there. Well maybe just a little bit.

But it was only after a couple of seconds it was over, the Doctor throughly shocked and dazed by having Alice kiss him out of the blue. Grabbed the nearest counter to him and tipped his head back releasing black smoke from his mouth. It vanished into thin air and he groans, facing forward again.

"Ah! Detox," he wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve, "I must do that more often," seeing Alice blush innocently as he gazed briefly at her surprisingly finding himself doing it as well, "I mean, the detox."

Alice let out an awkward laugh not sure what to feel about the situation, still blushing like mad, "Yeah…"

"Doctor!"

Agatha grabbed his attention, taking it away from the very woman who saved his life, making a reminder to thank her later.

"You are impossible!"

He looked looks to Alice clicking his tongue while giving her a rather flirtatious wink, before running out the kitchen. Agatha followed right behind him.

"Who are you?"

The sisters go straight after them, Donna looked to Alice with a pleasing smirk, "Enjoy giving the Doctor his 'detox', Al," she teases, making her sister blush.

"Oh, shut up Donna!"

 **-Doctor Who-**

Later that night, whilst a thunderstorm went on outside they ate their soup at the dining room table. The Doctor briefly glanced to his side at Alice, who… was unusually quiet with a far off look on her face pushing the broth around with her spoon. She was not in the best of moods to eat and had a lot on her mind. Like kissing the Doctor in the kitchen earlier, along with the confusing feelings that came along with it afterwards. But this needed to be put aside for now, not when two people are already dead and here they all were going on like nothing has happened and Alice just found it very wrong.

Donna patted her sisters knee to keep her calm and left her hand there, sensing the uneasiness coming off her, just as the Doctor spoke taking a spoonful of his soup, "A terrible day for all of us," he started saying, "The Professor struck down, Miss Chandrakala taken cruelly from us, and yet we still take dinner."

He heard Alice mutter in agreement, "It's revolting…" Donna gives her knee another squeeze.

"We are British, Doctor," Lady Eddison straightened herself in her chair, "What else must we do?"

The Doctor saw Alice was about to respond to this but sensing she was being watched by him stopped herself. "And then someone tried to poison me… anyone of you had the chance to put cyanide in my drink. But it rather gave me an idea."

"And what would that be?" Reverend Golightly asked, taking a sip of his drink before going back to his meal.

"Well, poison," everyone stopped eating in that instant as the Doctor smiled raising his glass. "Drink up," they turned to look at him at little horrified. "I've laced the soup with pepper," he now explained.

Hugh is the first to say something about it, "Ah, I thought it was jolly spicy."

"But…" The Doctor dragged out, leaning forward, "The active ingredient of pepper is piperine, traditionally used as an insecticide."

"So, anyone got the shivers?"

Right on cue, another crack of thunder had crashed outside much louder reminding Alice of the gunshot back on Messaline. All of the lights suddenly went out, as the windows slammed open and extinguished the candles, plunging the room into complete darkness. She couldn't move rather terrified of the dark, Donna pulled her up to feet as loud buzzing filled the room. She gulps gripping her sisters hand tightly and it's returned it back.

"What the deuce is that?" Hugh gasped, rather shocked at the turn of the weather.

"Listen!" the Doctor stood up slowly, "Listen, listen, listen!" He hushed putting his finger to his lips, making everyone fall silent as he tried listening into the silence…buzzing is faintly heard.

"No…" Lady Eddison gasped, "It can't be!"

Agatha stood just as the lighting struck and slammed her hand down upon the table, "Show yourself, demon!" she demanded of it.

Not long after, everyone in a panic tried getting out of the room with the Doctor trying to tell them to stay put, "Nobody move. No, don't! Stay where you are!"

The Vespiform finally made it's appearance, and Alice no longer felt the tight grip of her older sisters hand, "Donna!" she shouted, getting rather scared looking around madly in the dark for her. Alice then heard her sister screaming for her, but couldn't make out where. It was only that the buzzing got louder that it blocked out Donna's voice, Alice swore she could hear it close to her ears, nearly making her scream.

It was dark and she was so scared, that she didn't know what to do her mind has gone completely blank. The lights came back on putting Alice somewhat at ease, followed by a scream from Robina. Turning to face what had caused her do so. She went entirely numb, catching the sight of Roger, Lady Eddison's son stabbed in the back face down in his soup.

Alice got flashed with the images of Gallifrey, children lying motionless on the ground, then to Jenny laying in the Doctor's arms when she had died saving his life. Everything becomes all too much and her knees give out dropping to the ground, going pale she wrapped her arms around herself, tucking her knees into her.

A whimper leaves her trembling lips. She hadn't noticed that everyone had left the room, until she feels the familiar arms of Donna cradling her and whispering some words of comfort, "It's all right…" she stroked Alice's hair trying to calm her, "Everything's alright…"

The young Noble let out a shuddering breath, to stop herself from shaking. Donna now helped Alice up onto her feet and hugged her rather tightly, burying herself into her sisters chest trying to hide her tears.

 **-Doctor Who-**

Alice wrapped her arms around her body as she sat by the sofa nearest the fireplace in the sitting room. She didn't like all these feelings she had the memories she had saw from Ariana earlier. All considering herself to be a smart and independent woman, all she could think about was Jenny. She had felt a motherly instinct towards the girl even though she had been made from the Doctor's DNA. To think if Jenny hadn't of died. Would she be traveling the stars with them right now? Enjoying their amazing adventures?

She glanced over at the Doctor who's leaning against the other end of the fireplace, wondering if he still ever thought about Jenny. Even though he hasn't mentioned her since Messaline.

"You ok Alice?"

His voice snaps Alice from her thoughts as she gazed up at him, "Huh?"

"You ok, been staring at me for the last five minutes."

She'd been really staring at him for that long? Alice just looked away hiding the blush on her cheeks that she could feel coming.

"Nothing I'm fine…" she mumbles, "It's only that…"

"What?" He comes to sit beside her.

Alice sighs deeply, before looking up to greet his eyes, "It's just when I saw Roger lying there dead… It made me think about Jenny that's all," she sees him freeze, "I know I shouldn't mention her but… I wanted to know if still thought about her?" she put her hand on his shoulder.

"Of course I think about her… everyday," he admitted looking away, not minding the warming touch of Alice's hand where it was.

"Do wish you could go back and save her?" Alice wondered.

"No… it's a fixed point," he replied softly looking at her again.

"I know about the whole timelines thing and all that," she squeezed his shoulder lovingly, "But if you had the chance… would you?"

"Of course I would Alice, in a heartbeat," he responded honestly with a smile, "But at least I've still got you and Donna with me, what would I do without you both?"

"What would we do without you more like?" Alice joked in return with a small laugh, lightly shoving him with her hand that had been on his shoulder. He returned it smiling back at the young woman and they continued to talk until Agatha and Donna returned. He was grateful for Alice having saved his life more than once since knowing her, she had jumped in front of a bullet for him and now just a few hours ago she had just kissed him from being poisoned. The Time Lord couldn't help but think that maybe… just maybe he might be falling for the smart, yet cheeky and beautiful Alice Noble.


	11. The Unicorn and the Wasp Final

**The Unicorn and the Wasp Final**

 **A/N:** Alice belongs to me the rest BBC

"That poor footman. Roger's dead and he can't even mourn him Donna sighed sadly, "1926? It's more like the dark ages," Alice nodded her head in agreement with her sister. The older Noble comes to sit beside Agatha on the other sofa opposite.

"Did you enquire about Lady Eddison's necklace?" the author asked looking to Donna.

"Lady Eddison brought it back from India. It's worth thousands of pounds."

This made Alice think. The jewel had been brought back from India? Exactly around the time Lady Eddison locked herself in that bedroom for six months after getting sick… was there a possibility that all of this is linked… She was about to say something about all this, until the Doctor spoke up having that thinking look on his face.

"This thing can sting, it can fly… it could wipe us all out in seconds…" he explained slowly to them, "Why is it playing this game?"

Agatha shook her head in disagreement, "Every murder is essentially the same. They are committed because somebody wants something."

"What does a Vespiform want?" The Time Lord wondered.

"Doctor, stop it," Agatha shook her head again, "The murderer is as human as you or I."

"You're right," he agreed in realisation, "I've been so caught up with giant wasps that I've forgotten," he sat before Agatha and stared at her and she stared back, "You're the expert."

She is taken aback by this, but regained her composure quickly and just shook her head in denial, "I'm not. I told you. I'm just a purveyor of nonsense."

Alice once again was feeling sorry for her, "You're so much more than what you think you are Agatha," she came out with honestly what she thought, "You truly are."

The Doctor smiled at her fondly another thing about Alice he admired was that she always brought the best out of the people who she was with, "She's right Agatha," the author looked to him, "Because plenty of people write detective stories, but yours are the best. And why? Why are you so good, Agatha Christie? Because you understand. You've lived, you've fought, you've had your heart broken. You know about people. Their passions, their hope, and despair, and anger. All of those tiny, huge things that can turn the most ordinary person into a killer. Just think, Agatha. If anyone can solve this, it's you."

Having convinced her enough. A while later, everyone is now gathered into the sitting room. The Doctor was standing front and centre of the fireplace, while Alice and Donna sat.

"I've called you here on this Endless Night, because we have a murderer in our midst. And when it comes to detection, there's none finer… ladies and gentlemen, I give you, Agatha Christie," he gestured to the woman before making his way to sit beside Alice, as the author took his place, standing before the room.

"This is a crooked house," she started off and Alice could see she was trying to play the role of one of her detectives, "A house of secrets. To understand the solution, we must examine them all. Starting with you... Miss Redmond."

"But I'm innocent, surely?" Robina blinks, putting a hand on her chest.

"You've never met these people, and these people have never met you. I think the real Robina Redmond never left London. You're impersonating her!"

"How silly," she comes off with a tense smile, "What proof do you have?"

"You said you'd been to the toilet..."

"Oh!" Donna exclaimed suddenly, "I know this. If she was really posh, she'd say loo."

"Good observation, dear sister," Alice praised her, being a tad dramatic.

Donna grinned, "Thank you, I do try."

"Earlier today, Miss Donna Noble and I found this on the lawn…" moving over to a small table at the side and Agatha picked up the lock picking kit, "…right beneath your bathroom window. You must have heard that Miss Noble was searching the bedrooms, so you panicked. You ran upstairs and disposed of the evidence."

"I've never seen that thing before in my life, " Robina tried denying.

"What's inside it?" Lady Eddison asked curiously with a frown, as she tried getting a better look shifting in her seat.

"The tools of your trade, Miss Redmond, or should I say… the Unicorn," she opens the case, holding it up for everyone to see the tools, "You came to this house with one sole intention. To steal the Firestone."

The whole room looked straight at Robina who was pretending to look elsewhere, pretending to be innocent, but gave up sighing in defeat, "Oh, all right then, it's a fair cop," she stood revealing her cockney accent, "Yes, I'm the bleeding Unicorn. Ever so nice to meet you," she mocked with a curtsy, "I don't think. I took my chance in the dark and nabbed it," tugging on her dress strap and pulled out the necklace out, "Go on then, you knobs. Arrest me. Sling me in jail!" she threw the necklace towards the Doctor who caught it.

"So, is she the murderer?" Donna asked, getting some nuts from a bowl beside her.

"Don't be so thick," Robina sneered rolling her eyes, "I might be a thief, but, well, I ain't no killer."

"Quite," Agatha nodded in agreement, "There are darker motives at work. And in examining this household…we come to you...Colonel."

Hugh stared at her for a moment, before caved, "Damn it, woman!" You with your perspicacity. You've rumbled me!"

And before their very eyes… he stood up from his wheelchair earning gasps from everyone, but Lady Eddison's was the loudest, "You...you can walk. But why?!"

"My darling," he knelt beside his wife, "How else could I be certain of keeping you by my side?"

"I don't understand…"

"You're still a beautiful woman, Clemency. Sooner or later some chap will turn your head. I couldn't bear that. Staying in the chair was the only way I could be certain of keeping you. Confound it, Mrs Christie!" Hugh stood up on his feet and looked to the author, "How did you discover the truth?"

Alice could see Lady Eddison was truly touched by his words. So was Alice too…not caring how strange it was.

"Er," Agatha gave a small smile, "Actually I had no idea. I was just going to say you're completely innocent."

"Ah…" Hugh blushes in embarrassment, "Oh…"

Alice nearly started giggling, but hid it covering her mouth with her hand. The Doctor tried giving her a stern look for her to stop it, but he couldn't help but shake his head lightly, smiling at her.

"Sorry."

"Well, shall I sit down then?" He asked pointing to the chair.

"I think you better had," Hugh placed himself beside his wife who took his hand.

"So he's not the murderer?" Donna asked between chewing her nuts.

The young Noble took her hand off her mouth only to have more giggles come out, "No, Donna I think it's safe to say he isn't."

"Indeed, not. To find the truth…let's return to this…" Agatha held out her hand to the Doctor and he placed the Firestone into her hand, "Far more than the Unicorn's object of desire. The Firestone has quite a history. Lady Eddison."

"I've done nothing!" Lady Eddison said a little too quickly and defensively.

"You brought it back from India, did you not? Before you met the Colonel. According to what your butler," Agatha began, recalling the questions posed to him and the staff, "You came home with malaria, and confined yourself to this house for six months, in a room that has been kept locked ever since, which I rather think means…"

"Stop," Lady Eddison pleaded, tears in her eyes, "Please!"

Alice recalled the teddy bear she had found in that very room and it made sense why she locked herself away, "That she got pregnant, am I right?" She checked with Agatha looking to her. The woman looking rather pleased yet shocked that Alice already figured it out.

"Yes she was," Agatha responded, looking back to Lady Eddison who's weeping, "Unmarried and ashamed, you hurried back to England with your confidant, a young maid later to become housekeeper. Miss Chandrakala."

"Clemency!" Hugh turned to her in shock, "Is this true?"

Lady Eddison sobbed uncontrollably, too overcome with grief to having lost one son to murder and the other to shame, "My poor baby. I had to give him away. The shame of it"

"But you never said a word!"

"I had no choice. Imagine the scandal. The family name. I'm British… I carry on," she sniffed.

"And it was no ordinary pregnancy," The Doctor cut in, as Lady Eddison turned to face him in surprise.

"How can you know that?"

"Excuse me Agatha," he stood up slowly, "This is my territory," moves over to the fireplace and turned to look at Lady Eddison, "But when you heard that buzzing sound in the dining room, you said, 'it can't be.' Why did you say that?"

"You'd never believe it," she shook her head.

"The Doctor has opened my mind to believe...many things," Agatha admitted as she sat down.

Lady Eddison sighed, "It was forty years ago, in the heat of Delhi, late one night. I was alone, and that's when I saw it. A dazzling light in the sky. The next day, he came to the house. Christopher, the most handsome man I'd ever seen. Our love blazed like a wildfire. I held nothing back. And in return he showed me the incredible truth about himself. He'd made himself human, to learn about us. This was his true shape. I loved him so much, it didn't matter. But he was stolen from me. 1885, the year of the great monsoon. The River Jumna rose up and broke its banks. He was taken at the flood. But Christopher left me a parting gift. A jewel like no other," she nodded to the Firestone, "I wore it always. Part of me never forgot. I kept it close, always."

"Just like a man," Robina scoffed shaking her head, "Flashes his family jewels and you end up with a bun in the oven."

"'Poor little child…'" Alice muttered sadly remembering the housekeeper's last words before she died.

"Forty years ago, Miss Chandrakala took that newborn babe to an orphanage," Agatha continued on, "But Professor Peach worked it out. He found the birth certificate."

"Oh, that's 'maiden'," Donna offered, remembering about scrap of the Doctor had told her about that Agatha found, "Maiden name."

"Precisely."

"So she killed him?"

Lady Eddison is completely offended by the accusation, "I did not!"

Agatha shook her head, agreeing with her, "Miss Chandrakala feared that the Professor had unearthed your secret. She was coming to warn you."

"So she killed her?" Donna took another guess again, still eating the nuts from the bowl beside her.

"I did not!" Lady Eddison repeated once again.

"Donna, let her have the chance to finish," Alice called to her sister, getting annoyed of her butting in. She could see she was excited about a real live murder mystery coming to life as it did in a play, but it was just getting plain silly.

"Lady Eddison is innocent," Agatha informed them all, "Because at this point…Doctor?"

He nods, "Thank you," standing up, putting his arms behind his back, "At this point, when we consider the lies and the secrets, and the key to these events, then we have to consider... it was you, Donna Noble!" He pointed to

"What?" Alice notices her sister going all cross-eyed, "Who did I kill?"

"No," the Doctor smiled, "But you said it all along. The vital clue. This whole thing is being acted out like a murder mystery," he continued telling Donna as she relaxed, her little sister giving her a pat on the shoulder, "Which means…it was you, Agatha Christie!" he now pointed at her.

"I beg your pardon, sir?" Agatha frowns at him.

"So she killed them?"

The Doctor shakes his head at Donna sighing with some exasperation, "No, but she wrote. She wrote those brilliant, clever books. And who's her greatest admirer? The Moving Finger points… he moves his finger until he stops, "You, Lady Eddison!"

"Don't. Leave me alone," she wept, turning away.

Alice notices Donna pouting a little.

"You so want it to be her don't you?" she asked under her breath.

"What? I want to be right…" Donna grumbles, slightly huffing at her sister as Alice stopped herself from giggling.

So she did kill them.

"But just think…" The Doctor continued on staring at Lady Eddison, "Last Thursday night, what were you doing?"

"I was...I was in the library," she blinked, rather startled by the question, "I was reading my favourite Agatha Christie thinking about her plots, and how clever she must be. How is that relevant?"

"What else happened on Thursday night?" The Time Lord faces Golightly.

"I'm sorry?" he blinked back.

"You told us on the lawn, this afternoon. Last Thursday night, about those boys braking into your church," Alice reminds him.

"That's correct…they did…" he recalled the incident, "I discovered the two of them. Thieves in the night. I was most perturbed. But I apprehended them."

"Really?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows looking at him disbelievingly, "A man of God against two strong lads? A man in his forties? Or, should I say forty years old...exactly?"

"Oh, my God!" Eddison gasps in shock, staring at right at the reverend.

"Lady Eddison," the Doctor began, "Your child, how old would he be now?"

"Forty. He's...forty."

"If he's forty…so that makes him her…" Alice's mouth dropped open, understanding where he's going with this her finger pointing to the man.

"Your child has come home."

"Oh," the reverend scoffed in disbelief shaking his head, "This is poppycock!"

"Oh?" the Time Lord glances at him, "You said you were taught by the Christian Fathers, meaning you were raised in an orphanage."

"My son!" Lady Eddison stared at Golightly, "Can it be?"

"You found those thieves, Reverend, and you got angry," the Doctor said to him, "A proper, deep anger, for the first time in your life, and it broke the genetic lock. You changed. You realised your inheritance. After all these years...you knew who you were. Oh, and then it all kicks off because this..." he held up the Firestone before him, "…isn't just a jewel. It's a Vespiform telepathic recorder. It's part of you, your brain, your very essence. And when you activated, so did the Firestone. It beamed your full identity directly into your mind.

"And, at the same time, it absorbed the works of Agatha Christie directly from Lady Eddison. It all became part of you. The mechanics of those novels formed a template in your brain. You've killed, in this pattern, because that's what you think the world is. It turns out, we are in the middle of a murder mystery. One of yours, Dame Agatha," he now finished, and sat on the arm of the sofa.

"Dame?" Agatha questioned.

Alice hissed rather annoyed at leaned over and pinched him hard on the arm for mentioning something about the authors future, "Not until 1971!"

He whined in pain slightly, rubbing his arm, "Ow! Oh. Sorry, not yet."

"So he killed them?" Donna enquired looking around, really hoping that it was him, "Yes? Definitely?"

"Yes," Both Alice and the Doctor and Agatha said.

Golightly slowly stood and so did the rest, the whole room is on edge, "Well, this has certainly been a most entertaining evening. Really, you can't believe any of this surely, Lady Edizzz…"

"Lady who?" the Doctor pressed, his eyes narrowing at him, after hearing a little bit of a buzz from the man starting.

But the reverend only struggled with his words, "Lady Edizzzzon…"

Alice knew the Doctor was only trying to get a rise out of him to make him change. In that instant she grabbed Donna's hand, winding their fingers together waiting for the worst to happen.

"Little bit of buzzing there, Vicar," He teased the man gesturing at his throat.

"Don't make me angry," the reverend hissed in warning, glaring at him.

"Why?" The Time Lord challenged him, "What happens then?"

"Damn it!" the reverend finally exploded in anger, "You humanzz! Worshipping your tribal sky godzz! I am so much more! That night, the universe exploded in my mind! I wanted to take what wazz mine. And you, Agatha Christie, with your railway station bookstall romancezz, what'z to stop me killing you?"

Lady Eddison was staring at him in awe, "Oh, my dear God!" she tried reaching out to him, "My child!"

"What'zz to stop me killing you all?" In a blink of an eye, he transformed before them into the giant wasp.

"Forgive me!" Lady Eddison still reached out to him.

Her husband Hugh and Greeves come to their senses and managed to pull her away, "No, no, Clemency! Keep away! Keep away, my darling!"

"No!" Agatha leapt to her feet, just when the wasp made aim at Lady Eddison stinger at the ready, she held up the Firestone, "No more murder. If my imagination made you kill, then my imagination will find a way to stop you, foul creature!" afterwards she ran from the room, the Doctor, Donna and Alice hot on her trail.

"Wait!" Donna gasped, catching her breath, just spotting the wasp heading towards them, "Now it's chasing us!"

"Yeah, weird how things turn out!" Alice called back as they make it outside the house, shutting the doors behind them, just spotting Agatha racing past in her car.

"Come on!" the Doctor called, automatically taking Alice's hand and Donna's as the trio chased after her. The wasp blasts through the door, scattering splitters of wood, the wasp darts right past them looking at them running and watching Agatha in the car.

"Over here!" Agatha manages to grab it's attention, "Come and get me, Reverend!"

"Agatha, what are you doing?" the Time Lord demanded.

"If I started this, Doctor, then I must stop it!" with that she turned away and put her foot down on the pedal, speeding away with the wasp following after her. The Doctor let go of Alice and Donna's hands, running to another car.

"Come on!"

They both followed after him and scrambled into the car. Soon as their inside, the Doctor quickly used the sonic to start the car instantly.

"You can drive a car can't you?" Alice asked him with uncertainty knowing how he was.

"Yes! Just like driving the TARDIS."

"Great! We're done for!" Alice groaned in complaint, rolling her eyes.

"Alice, this is not the time to judge my driving skills!" he told her off not really in the mood for judgement from her right now.

"Al you said this was the night Agatha Christie loses her memory," Donna recalled to her sister.

"Yeah, but what if I was wrong about it Donna," Alice returned unsure of what she remembered reading.

"Are you being serious?!" Donna looked at her sister in disbelief.

"She's right Donna!" the Doctor agreed with the young noble shouting over the roar of the engine, "Time is in flux. For all we know, this is the night Agatha Christie loses her life and history gets changed!"

"But where's she going?!"

After driving a couple of minutes, the Doctor sees a sign on the side of the road. Directing to 'Silent Pool,' "The lake!" he realised, "She's heading for the lake! What's she doing?"

Reaching the lake moments later after Agatha, they spotted her running towards it stopping, spinning around holding out the Firestone, "Here I am!" she shouted as the wasp came flying towards her, "The honey in the trap. Come to me, Vespiform."

"She's controlling it!" Alice realised looking between the glowing Firestone and the wasp.

"It's mind is based on her thought processes," the Doctor understanding this rushed out of the car, the two following, "They're linked."

"Quite so, Doctor," Agatha agreed knowing what was happening, "If I die, then this creature might die with me."

"Agatha, don't do this!" Alice pleaded with the author her eyes going wide.

"Don't hurt her!" The Doctor cried for the Vespiform to listen, "You're not meant to be like this. You've got the wrong template in your mind!"

But the it just won't listen, it's mind set on killing Agatha, "It's not listening to you!" Donna ran over quickly, grabbed the Firestone from Agatha and tossed it straight into the lake.

The Vespiform plunged straight into the water, after the Firestone. Soon as it's gone, the water started bubbling on the surface like a pan of water on a stove, whilst giving off a purple glow. It was now dead. Even though it killed all those people, Alice looked at the lake along with her sister and the Doctor feeling a little down in the dumps. Knowing that it wasn't the aliens fault that it didn't know what it had done.

"How do you kill a wasp?" Donna asked sadly, "Drown it, just like his father."

"Donna, that thing couldn't help itself."

She looked at the Time Lord, "Neither could I."

"There wouldn't of been a second chance for it anyway," Alice spoke up, looking up to the Doctor their eyes meeting, "Not this time round, Doctor."

But he doesn't say a word, judging from the look she could see on his face, he knew that she was definitely right about it.

"Death comes as the end," Agatha agreed with her, "And justice is served."

"Murder at the Vicar's rage," the Doctor offered what he could, making both the sisters glance at each other briefly before rolling their eyes in unison, "Needs a bit of work."

"It needs a lot more working on," Alice muttered under her breath.

"Just one mystery left, Doctor," Agatha turned in his direction, "Who exactly are you?"

But he's saved from answering her when…she suddenly toppled forward, face full of pain before passing out completely. The Doctor and Alice catch her and lowered her to the ground, the Doctor's mind is racing unsure what to do.

Alice looks between Agatha and the pulsing purple light in the lake, "Doctor the Firestone! It's connected to her!"

"Yes! Of course it's part of the Vespiform's mind! It's dying and it's connected to Agatha!"

Agatha starts glowing purple, but it only lasted a few seconds. Afterward Alice checked her pulse to make sure the woman was still alive, and to her relief she still had one.

"He let her go," the Doctor voices in awe of it all, "Right at the end, the Vespiform chose to save someone's life."

"Is she all right, though?" Donna frowned.

"Of course! The amnesia!" Wiped her mind of everything that happened. The wasp...the murders."

"And us…" Alice sighed sadly, "She'll forget about us."

"Yeah, but we've solved another riddle," he grinned trying to cheer them both up, "The mystery of Agatha Christie. And tomorrow morning, her car gets found by the side of a lake. A few days later, she turns up in hotel at Harrogate with no idea of what just happened…"

 **-Doctor Who-**

"No one'll ever know," the Doctor mused, as the three time travellers stood on the other side of the road, watching on as Agatha headed up the steps to the Harrogate Hotel, glancing over her shoulder in their direction but not seeing them.

"It's it a pity she won't remember us," Alice sighed.

"Yeah…" Donna agreed with a sigh nodding her head, "Lady Eddison, the Colonel, and all the staff. What about them?"

"Shameful story," he shrugged, "They'd never talk of it. Too British. While the Unicorn does a bunk back to London town. She can never even say she was there."

"What happens to Agatha?"

"She'll lead a great life Don! Gets married again. Sees the world. And writes, loads and loads of books," Alice told of what became of her, being the know-it-all that she was.

"Good for her," the Doctor grinned at her and she returned it.

"She never thought her books were any good, though," Donna points out, "And she must have spent all those years wondering."

"The thing is," the Doctor's muffled voice drifted up through the consoles grating awhile later to both the sisters who knelt next to the opening, the Doctor trying to dig something out, "I don't think she ever quite forgot. Great mind like that, some of the details kept bleeding through. All the stuff her imagination could use. Like, Miss Marple!"

"I should have made her sign a contract," Donna mumbled with a sigh, which Alice couldn't help but laugh about.

"I don't think she would of signed it anyway Don," Alice teased her sister, earning a poke in the side. With a small laugh she turned her attention back to the Doctor.

"And…where is it?" both of them winced as a bang of his head hit something, "Hold on. Here we go," bending downwards he opened a secret section, he lifted up a chest out settling it between the sisters, "C," he opened the chest, "That is C for Cyberman," he tossed out what looked like a metal chest plate to Alice branded with logo, "C for Carrionites," a glass globe that she swore that she heard wailing from and then a bust of Caesar, "And…"he pulled out a book, "Christie, Agatha," he held it out before them Agatha Christie's 'Death in the Clouds, "Look at that," he tapped to the wasp on the cover.

"She did remember," both Noble's stared at the cover in awe. Alice took the book looking at it intently.

"Somewhere in the back of her mind, it all lingered. And that's not all. Look at the copyright page."

Alice opened up the book, "Facsimile edition, published in the year…" her eyes widened as did Donna's who was looking over her shoulder, "...5 billion!"

The Doctor grinned widely at the sisters reaction, "People never stop reading them," he continued, "She is the best selling novelist of all time."

"But she never knew," Donna mummers.

"Well, no one knows how they're going to be remembered," the Doctor began, looking at Donna and Alice in turn eyes staying on her longer, "All we can do is hope for the best," he sighed, "Maybe that's what kept her writing. Same thing keeps me travelling," he looked at them both, "Onwards?" he offers.

Donna agreed, "Onwards."

Alice replied softly to him with a smile,"Onwards...always," because it was true as she watched him pulling that lever to start the TARDIS engines, Alice knew that she was never ever going to stop traveling with him.

Not ever.


	12. Silence in the Library Part 1

**Disclaimer:** Alice  & Ariana belong to me the rest is BBC.

 _The Doctor, Alice and Donna burst into a blue lit room full of books, trying to escape something, the door gets barricaded shut with a book put through the handles as they try to catch their breath. It's that out of the corner of the young Noble's eye she sees a wooden ball with a lens floating in mid-air, but it seemed that the other two hadn't noticed it yet._

 _"Doctor,"she whispered, trying to get his attention by tapping him on the arm._

 _"Oh! Hello!" the Doctor after hearing Alice, turned to see the ball floating before him and is rather surprised to see it there. He puts his hands in the pockets of his trousers and casually strolls over to the ball, Alice and Donna following not far behind, "Sorry to burst in on you like this. OK if we stop here for a bit?" he asks kindly before then the wooden ball suddenly drops to the ground._

 **Half an hour earlier...**

"Books! People never really stop loving books," the Doctor talked animatedly in excitement after landing, going around the console and fetching his coat off the coral beam as he exited the doors of the TARDIS Alice and Donna following out behind find themselves in a rather large open reception area looking around at the large roomwith tall shelves it was filled to the brim with books but it's empty and not a person in sight. Alice found this rather odd indeed.

"51st century," he went on lecturing both sisters, leading them out of the room to a rather large staircase, "By now you've got holovids, direct to brain downloads, fiction mist, but you need the smell. The smell of books, Donna and Alice. Deep breath."

Alice sighed appreciatively,"Love a good book," she said seeing as she was rather an avid book reader herself.

"Your such a bookworm sometimes," Donna joked about her little sister's book habit, giving her light playful nudge.

"Wow!" Alice's gasped mouth dropping open as they went down the stair case. It was a city, a city full of books, stretching out as far as the eye could see, "Where are we?" she asked in awe.

"The Library. So big it doesn't need a name. Just a great big 'The,'" the Doctor replied to her, whilst loving the reaction upon her face, noticing she at this very moment was in her element by being here.

"Oh like 'the' Doctor," Alice smirks, as he gave her a quick wink rather liking the joke.

"It's like a city," Donna marvelled, trying to soak it in as they kept walking.

"It's a world, literally, a world," he informed them.

"What like a whole planet?" Alice asks, rather surprised by this.

"Yep. The whole core of the planet is the index computer, biggest hard drive ever. And up here, every book ever written," he replied simply, going on to explain about the planet in more detail as they reached a balcony.

"Whole continents of Jeffrey Archer, Bridget Jones, Monty Python's Big Red Book. Brand-new editions, especially printed," the Doctor lists as he now looked over the edge of the balcony.

"We're near the equator, so..." he tries to figure out where they are, licks the tip of his finger and puts it in the air, "This must be biographies!" the Doctor gushed in excitement, behaving like a child in a sweet shop, "I love biographies."

"Yeah, very you." Donna joked with a scoff, "Always a death at the end."

Alice sniggers, "Well that's the truth?"

"You need a good death. Without death there'd only be comedies. Dying gives us size." the Doctor protests, telling them how wrong it seemed not have death in a book, that it gave it more depth and meaning.

"Keep telling yourself that, Doctor," Alice put with a shrug of her shoulders and a light pat on the shoulder.

About to return with something on her comment he sees Donna picking up a book, about to open it he quickly snatched it from her hand, "Whay! Spoilers."

"What?" She complained with a frown, wondering what she's done wrong.

"These books are from your future. You don't want to read ahead, spoil all the surprises. It's like peeking at the end."

"Yes, but travelling with you, isn't that all one big spoiler?" Alice pointed out to him, with a slight smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"I...I try to keep you away from major plot developments."

She sniggered again shaking her head, "Yeah, it's like you telling us to keep away from danger," Alice put in amusement.

He just rolled his eyes trying to ignore her, "Which, to be honest, I seem to be very bad at...don't you dare," he adds looking in Alice's direction who was about to say something but closes it instantly pretending to zip it closed and throw away a key, "'Cos, you know what, this is the biggest Library in the universe," He ponders aloud, looking around, "So where is everyone?"

He moved on the direction of an information terminal and flashes it with the sonic, "It's silent."

"The Library?" Donna asked unsure what he means looked around as well.

"The planet. The whole planet."

"Maybe it's a Sunday. Library's never open on Sundays." Alice offered with a shrug.

"No, I never land on Sundays. Sundays are boring."

"Oh God would love the sound of that," Alice put in sarcastically.

"Oh well, maybe everyone's really, really quiet."

"Yeah, maybe," the Doctor mused, "But they'd still show up on the system."

"Doctor, why are we here? Really, why?" Donna asks changing the subject, giving him a look.

"Oh, you know, just passing," he replied rather too quickly and vaguely for Alice's liking, getting an unsettling feeling that he's hiding something.

"As much as I like it here Doctor, what aren't you telling us?" Alice asked, crossing her arms over her chest looking at him curiously, wanting a proper answer from him.

"Yes it was all, 'Let's hit the beach' then suddenly we're in a library. Why?" Donna huffed in complaint..

"Now that's interesting?" the Doctor announces ignoring Donna's question, frowning at the screen.

"What is?" Alice asked him as her and Donna now come over.

"Scanning for life forms," he replied, "If you do a scan looking for your basic humanoids, you know your book-readers, few limbs and a face…" he pressed a few buttons and the screen flashed: Filtered Humanoid Life Form Scan: 3; complete, "Apart from us, I get nothing. Zippo, nada. See? Nobody home, but if I widen the parameters to any kind of life..." He changes the search and numbers appeared on the screen until stopping completely, it comes up showing 100,000,000,000, "A million million. Gives up after that," he says that all it gives him. "A million, million."

"But there's nothing here," Alice stated with a frown, looking out across the city of books not seeing a single person.

"There's no one," Donna pointed out feeling just the same.

"And not a sound," the Time Lord adds now frowning also, "A million million life forms and silence in the Library"

"But there's nobody here," Alice pressed, "I mean there's nothing but books here, it can't be the books can it?" she laughs nervously at the thought of how ridiculous that sounds, "I mean that can't be possible can it?" she looks to the Doctor for reassurance, "Books can't be alive?"

After speaking, they shared a look between them and spot a book on a pile, cautiously approaching. Before carefully opening the book on top, a voice called out, making the trio jump and some curse under their breath.

"Welcome!" The greeting of an electronic female voice startles them.

"That came from here?" Donna recalls, pointing back towards the door they had came through a couple of minutes ago.

"Yeah it did," Alice breathes with a sigh of relief, nodding her head.

"Yeah," the Doctor remembered, as they all walk back to the reception.

A sound of something mechanical could be heard turning, it was a stand alone robot whose head was rotating to greet them. But Alice and Donna receive a bit of a shock seeing a rather good likeness of a human face upon it.

"I am Courtesy Node 710/Aqua," it introduced, "Please enjoy The Library and respect the personal access codes of all your fellow readers, regardless of species or hygiene taboo." The Node greets them with a rule.

"That face, it looks real," Donna looked it over unsure what to think.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," the Doctor tells in an offhanded manner.

"What do you mean by that, it has a real face on it though?" Alice asked, as she wrinkles her nose.

"It's a hologram or something, innit?" Donna hints a guess, that it's probably some sort of computer trickery.

"No, but really, it's…fine," the Doctor assured them again.

"Additional," the Node continued to speak, "There follows a brief message from the head Librarian for your urgent attention. It has been edited for tone and content by a Felman Lux Automated Decency Filter." The Node tells them. "Message follows. 'Run. For God's sake, run. Nowhere is safe. The Library has sealed itself. We can't... oh, they're here. Arg. Slarg. Snick.' Message ends" It then relays message to them and it was rather confusing to understand. "Please switch off your mobile comm-units for the comfort of other readers."

"So that's why we're here," the Doctor muttered to himself, now understanding the message he got on the psychic paper earlier, making the sisters look at him questionably. "Any other messages, same date stamp?" he now asked of the Node speaking up, seeing if it had anything more to give him.

"One additional message," the Node confirmed in reply, "This message carries a Felman Lux Coherency Warning of..."

"Yeah, yeah. Fine, fine, fine! Just play it," he brushed off it's warnings getting it to hurry along, not really bothered.

"Message follows. 'Count the shadows. For God's sake remember, if you want to live count the shadows.' Message ends," It was now after the message ends that the Doctor looked behind him getting an uneasy feeling that this wasn't really safest place to have brought the sisters.

A shiver goes down Alice's spine, one she's familiar with, when watching a horror movie with scary music playing at the start.

"Al...Donna…" he said slowly.

"Yeah?" they both replied together, Alice gulping slightly.

"Stay out of the shadows…" he warned ominously. The young Noble not liking the way he had said it.

"Why, what's in the shadows?" Alice wondered out of general curiosity, if there is something that they should be careful.

He never answered and led them slowly from the room into another it was huge shelves tall as anything, going far above them with walkways and platforms.

"So...we weren't just in the neighbourhood," Donna wonders aloud about why the Doctor had been so secretive towards them.

"So you lied, about why were here?" Alice asked in disappointment, for him not being honest in the first place..

"Yeah, I kind of, sort of, lied a bit," the Doctor admitted, "I got a message on the psychic paper," he replied feeling a little guilty, fishing the wallet out of his coat pocket.

Holding it up showing the message on the psychic paper to them: 'The Library come as soon as you can X'

"What do you both think?" he asked as Donna looked it over, "Cry for help?"

"A cry for help with kiss?" Donna joked to the Doctor, before he takes the wallet back from her. While Alice can't help but feel completely jealous about the message.

"We've all done that," he states awkwardly with a shrug of his shoulders and clearing his throat staring at the young woman across from him, who had saved his life a few weeks ago just by kissing him. He hasn't stopped thinking about it since.

"Of course, we all have," Alice agreed gazing back at him briefly, feeling rather awkward yet confused about it a slight tinge coming to her cheeks. She also hadn't been able to stop thinking about that kiss either.

Donna looked at her little sister who was trying to act normal as if nothing had happened between the two, but she could see Alice wasn't. Donna had tried having a talk with Alice about what was going on with the Doctor, but she would just deny that there was nothing. But she could see the look in her sister's eyes that she wanted more than friendship with the Doctor and that kiss and look of jealously when she saw a couple of seconds ago with the note said it all.

"Who's it from anyway?" Donna cleared her throat breaking the tension.

"No idea."

"So why did we come here? Why did you..." Alice starts to question, before the Doctor interrupted.

"Donna. Alice!" He shouted, seeing the lights at the far end of the corridor go out and into darkness moving towards them.

"What's happening?"

"Run!" the Doctor yelled, grabbing Alice's hand without thinking running down the aisle, with Donna beside them as the darkness followed. They reached a door, the Doctor let's go of Alice and tries tugging it open but it wouldn't give. "Come on!"

"What, is it locked?" Donna asks quickly.

Getting panicked, he looks over Alice's shoulder seeing the lights continuing to go out. As also he really didn't want her to know what would happen to them after all the lights would go out.

"Jammed! The wood's warped!"

"Use your sonic screwdriver!" Alice yelled in suggestion becoming rather scared, her heart beating hard against her chest.

"I can't, it's wood!" the Doctor replied sensing how she was.

"It doesn't do wood?" Donna asks sarcastically.

"Oh, that's really helpful that it is!" Alice puts in, using the same tone of sarcasm as her sister.

"Hang on, hang on. I can vibrate the molecules, fry the bindings, I can shatter line the..." The Doctor now rambles thinking he might now have a way to get the door open.

"Oh, get out of the way!" Donna getting rather impatient shoved him out the way before kicking the door open and hurried inside.

 **-Doctor Who-**

 **And now...**

"What is it?" Donna asks looking at the wooden ball curiously from afar, before then her and Alice approach where the Doctor is standing by it.

"A security camera," the Doctor informs her simply nudging it ever so slightly with his foot, "Switched itself off," he continued, crouching down to pick the camera up. Starting to examine it over before pulling the sonic out. While Alice leaned on the desk that was behind him.

"Nice door skills, Donna," the Doctor complimented her, rather impressed by what she had did.

"Yeah, well, you know, boyfriends…sometimes you need the element of surprise," she responded, moving over to him..

"Definitely with the men you ended up picking," Alice comments receiving a look from her sister. Making her smirk about it, "What was that anyway? What was that coming after us? I mean did we just run from a power cut?" Alice now changed the subject, hoping that it's nothing serious. She stops leaning against the desk, wandering into the middle of the room, looking up through the glass dome above seeing daylight coming through and the slight faint outline of a moon.

"Possibly,' he shrugged slightly, not quit sure himself what could have caused it. As he continued checking the camera, Alice came over to stand by them both.

"Are we safe here?" Donna asked looking around.

"Of course we're safe," the Doctor answered in duh sort of manner, nodding his head in the direction of the sign, "There's a little shop," the cameras lens snapped open, "Gotcha!" he cheerfully shouts in success, both the sisters now peering over his shoulders.

Whilst looking at it words suddenly appear on the screen: 'No, stop it! No! No!'

It now was making the Doctor feel guilty for tapering with it in the first place, looking at it apologetically, "Ooh, I'm sorry. I really am. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he mumbles in apology, putting the camera back on the ground, "It's alive," he informs both the sisters.

"You said it was a security camera?" Donna enquired rather puzzled.

"It is. It's an alive one," he picked it up again and showed the display to them. Words moving across it, 'Others are coming.'

"Doctor, the camera is saying that 'others are coming,'" Alice tells him trying to make sense of it or maybe that the camera was broken.

"'Others'?" Donna frowned, "What's it mean, 'others'?" but they could see he was just as confused.

"Excuse me. What does it mean, others?" Alice turned to the Node she sees in a corner of the room, hoping that it would help answer the question.

"That's barely more than a speak your weight machine. It can't help you," the Doctor told her with a scoff, knowing the information it will give won't be of any use, shifting on his feet slightly looking around uneasily.

"So why's it got a face?" she asks, turning to look at him before turning back again nodding her head at the Node wanting to know the reason for it looking the way it did.

Donna nudges him in the side, "Got you there didn't she, Doctor."

"This flesh aspect has been donated by Mark Chambers on the occasion of his death," the Node replied seeming to have heard Alice's query. The young woman wrinkles her nose in disgust, the Doctor finding it rather adorable.

"It's a real face?!" Donna exclaimed.

"That's just nasty," Alice comments as she wrinkles again, glancing over to the Doctor, who was looking rather sheepish, "Makes me wonder why you never like telling the truth sometimes."

"It has been actualised individually for you from the many facial aspects saved to our extensive flesh banks. Please enjoy."

"That is just so wrong," Alice continued voicing her opinion, "It chose me a dead face it thought I'd like?" she asked rhetorically, "That statue's got a dead face on it!" she points out now thoroughly freaked out.

"It's the 51st century, that's...basically like donating a park bench," the Doctor informed Alice's bluntly.

"It's donating a face!" Donna agreed with Alice not likening it either. The young Noble backed herself away, not noticing the dark shadow behind her.

"No! Wait! No!" the Doctor sees this and quickly tugged Alice back by her waist moving her away from the shadow. Knowing something awful would of happened if she had step into it.

But his arm hasn't moved from it's place, still resting on her waist her body perfectly suited to his like a puzzle piece. Smiling at each other as time seemed to stop around them, this moment felt right to Alice, so perfect and so right making her realise something. Alice Noble was in love with the handsome and brilliant Doctor.

Donna sees something between the Doctor and her sister that was how happy and perfect they looked together. She didn't want to ruin it but she had to, clearing her throat for their attention. Both moved away from each other quickly looking rather awkward about what had just happened.

"The shadow, look," he told them clearing his throat, both pointing to the triangular shadow Alice almost had stepped into.

"What about it?"

"'Count the shadows'," the Doctor reminds them in an eerie tone.

"Alice shuddered, "Did you really have to say it like that?"

"One," Donna rolls her eyes, pointing at it, "There. I counted it, one shadow."

"Yeah. But what's casting it?"

They looked around trying to find something, but there wasn't anything they could see.

"Oh!" the Doctor suddenly exclaims, making the sisters jump. Alice hated it when he did that sometimes, "I'm thick! Look at me! I'm old and thick!" he slapped the sides of his a couple of times, "Head's full of stuff! I need a bigger head!"

Alice stared at him a couple of seconds longer, rolling her eyes before they landed on a corridor nearby. It was pitch black down there and the only light on was blinking.

"The power must be starting to go," Donna notices the light as well.

"Yeah, sure," Alice agreed nervously with a chuckle.

"This place runs on fission cells," the Doctor shook his head knowing this wasn't right, "They'll out-burn the sun."

"Then why's it dark?" Donna asks frowning.

"It's not dark."

Alice gestures at the darkness, "Well it is, don't you see that? It's dark as anything over there."

Before he responded, Donna called for their attention, "The shadow," turning around looking and seeing it had disappeared, "It's gone."

Alice noticed she was right and gulps.

"We need to get back to the TARDIS..." the Doctor said slowly voice full of fear, stepping away leisurely wanting to get them all to safety.

"That wouldn't be a bad idea," Alice nodded in agreement, wringing her hands nervously. She really wanted to get out of here as the place had that creepy vibe and definitely didn't feel right to her.

"Why?" The older Noble asks in a confused whisper.

"Because that shadow hasn't gone," he told her, "It's moved."

The younger Noble squeaked gripping onto the Doctors arm, "Moved, moved where?"

But he didn't say a word.

"Reminder: the Library has been breached. Others are coming. Reminder: the Library has been breached. Others are coming…" The Node nearby warned repeatedly.

With that there is a flash of white light and a door burst open. Alice counted six people entering the room in spacesuits, the leader of the group approaching as she still gripped the Doctor's arm. The leader changes their visor to see the face of a woman is looking back at the Doctor and the two women standing next to him.

She smiles at the Doctor in greeting, "Hello Sweetie.


	13. Silence in the Library Part 2

Disclaimer: Alice & Ariana belong to me the rest is BBC.

The woman looked over his shoulder, to the young red head in disgust. While Alice got a vibe off the woman looking back at her, like she wasn't wanted. The Doctor seemed to notice how uncomfortable Alice was from the woman's gaze

"Get out!" he ordered to them, giving the curly haired woman a quizzical glance not liking the feeling he got from her. He walked past her into the centre of the room and pointed back towards the doorway they had come through.

"Doctor," both Nobles began.

"All of you, turn around, get back in your rocket and fly away!" the Doctor continued telling them, "Tell your grandchildren you came to the Library and lived, they won't believe you."

Alice of course, whacked him on the shoulder for being rude to bunch of people they didn't know, "Oi, manners," he glared at me and rolled his eyes, "No wonder people don't like you," she stated turning her attention back at the group, lightly patting the Doctor on his shoulder glowering at her, "Sorry about this one, isn't always a pain in the as, but then again that's an utter lie."

"Pop your helmets, everyone," the woman turned to her team ignoring the young woman's comment completely, "We've got breathers."

"How do you know they're not androids?" another female with an American accent and short cropped hair asked, taking off her helmet.

"Cos I've dated androids," the woman smirks, "They're rubbish."

"Who is this?" an older man demands, looking the Doctor, Alice, and Donna over, "You said we were the only expedition, I paid for exclusives," he walks up to the curly haired woman.

"I lied, I'm always lying. Bound to be others."

"Miss Evangelista, I want to see the contracts," The man now ordered the pretty young woman with black hair, who to Alice noticed scrambling through her bag getting the papers.

"You came through the north door yeah?" the blonde woman turned back to the Doctor while still ignoring Alice altogether, "How much was that, much damage?"

It was starting rather bother the young Noble slightly. Wondering what she has done to make the woman act like this towards her.

"Please just leave," he begs after ignoring her question. Something Alice has never heard him do, "I'm asking you seriously and properly just lea..."

"Hang on... Did you say expedition?" Alice interrupted recalling what the man said a couple of minutes ago.

"My expedition. I funded it," the older man informally replies.

"Oh, you're not are you?" The Doctor whines, making a face now figuring out what they all are, "Tell me you're not archaeologists."

The blonde raised her perfect eyebrow at him, "Got a problem with archaeologists."

"He's a time traveller, I've got the feeling he probably points and laughs at archaeologists," Alice jokes.

"That's not far off actually," the Doctor agreed giving her a quick grin before going all serious again.

"Professor River Song. Archaeologist," she introduced holding out her hand but he doesn't take it as she gave the young woman another.

"River Song, lovely name," the Doctor commented, "As you're leaving, and you're leaving now... you need to set up a quarantine beacon. Code-wall the planet, the whole planet! Nobody comes, not ever again...not one living thing, not here, not ever," the short haired woman near the edge of the shadows of the lighted area their in and saw her, "Stop right there! What's your name?" he catches hold of her bring her back to the centre.

"Anita," she introduced, looking at him as if he's grown another head.

"Anita, stay out of the shadows," he warns, "Not a foot, not a finger in the shadows till you're safely back in your ship. Goes for all of you. Stay in the light. Find a nice, bright spot and just stand. If you understand me, look very, very scared," they all look at him, Professor Song having knowing smile on her face, "No, bit more scared than that," Miss Evangelista looked very scared now,"Ok, do for now. You, who are you?"

"Er, Dave."

"OK, Dave..."

"Oh, well Other Dave, because that's Proper Dave the pilot, he was the first Dave, so when we..."

The Doctor doesn't let him finish as he led him in the direction they came from, "Other Dave, the way you came, does it look the same as before?"

"Yeah. Oh, it's a bit darker," Other Dave replies taking notice of the corridor.

"How much darker?"

"Oh, like I could see where we came through just like a moment ago. I can't now."

"Seal up this door. We'll find another way out," the Doctor tells Other Dave to close up the door before coming back to join the rest of the group in the centre of the room.

"We're not looking for a way out," the older man stated to the Doctor, "Miss Evangelista?"

Miss Evangelista stepped up to the trio, papers in her hands,"I'm Mr. Lux's personal... everything. You need to sign these contracts agreeing that your individual experience inside the Library are the intellectual property of the Felman Lux Corporation," Miss Evangelista introduce herself as the assistant of Mr Lux who was standing right behind her, while she handed them their contracts.

"Right, give it here."

"Yeah, lovely. Thanks."

"Thank you."

They give each other a knowing look before ripping the contracts in half and tossing them in the air without a care. River knew this was something that the Doctor would do, as the only rules he would follow was his own.

"My family built this Library. I have rights," Mr Lux is outraged by the three of them.

"Talk about touchy," Alice scoffs, making the Doctor smirk at her comment.

"You have a mouth that won't stop," River tells Mr Lux before turning to the Doctor still not, "You think there's danger here?" she wanted to know if the Time Lord was being serious.

"Something came to this Library and killed everything in it, killed a whole world. Danger? Could be," he gives back a rather sarcastic reply. And how she was looking at Alice like she dirt on her shoe was starting to bother him a bit.

"That was 100 years ago. The Library's been silent for 100 years. Whatever came here is long dead," River goes on ignoring his sarcasm. Assuring him that their could be nothing here to endanger them.

"Bet your life?" The Doctor asks Professor Song seriously.

"Always," she returned with a smile.

"What are you doing?" Alice hears Lux command to Other Dave as he marched over to him.

"He said seal the door," he tells him what the other man had asked of him, as he screwed the door shut.

"Torch!" and while Mr Lux wasn't looking the Doctor comes and snatches what he's been looking for out of his hand.

"You're taking orders from him?" Mr Lux asks Other Dave if he was serious directing his hand at the man.

"Spooky, isn't it?" the Doctor mutters in question as he walks past, back to the centre of the room, shining the torch to scan the area with the light.

Donna and Alice come over to join him, "Almost every species in the universe has an irrational fear of the dark. But they're wrong. Cos it's not irrational," He explains, "It's Vashta Nerada."

"What's Vashta Nerada?" Donna asks rather curious.

"Yeah, whatever it is doesn't sound friendly," Alice gulps slightly.

"It's what's in the dark. It's what's always in the dark," he explains emotionlessly, before chirping up again going back over to the group, "Lights! That's what we need, lights. You got lights?" the Doctor asks the group hoping they had what was required, tossing the torch back over to Mr Lux.

"What for?" River wonders what he needs it for.

"Form a circle, safe area, big as you can, lights pointing out," the Doctor orders what he wants done with them, turning on the spot then stopping.

"Oi! Do as he says," River tells the group to do what the man has asked of them.

The Doctor takes off his coat and slinging it in Alice's direction, who catches it putting down on the desk nearby. He gave her a quick wink making her blush slightly. River glared at her once again making the young woman wipe the silly grin off her face.

"You're not listening to this man?!" Mr Lux questions River about him.

He was kneeling on the floor was resting his head against it side ways checking something. While Alice looked on with worry at River Song wondering why a woman she's only just met had such a grudge against her.

"Hey, you alright?" Donna asks with concern coming over, giving her a light nudge. She looked at the back of River's head also having noticed how said woman had been acting towards her sister.

"It's her she's bothering me," Alice frowned nodding at Professor Song.

"Don't worry about her alright," Donna puts her arm around her little sisters shoulders and gives her a squeeze.

"Apparently, I am," River tells Mr Lux without a care, "Anita, unpack the lights. Other Dave, make sure the door's secure, then help Anita. Mr. Lux, put your helmet back on, block the visor. Proper Dave, find an active terminal. I want you to access the Library database, see what you can find about what happened here a hundred years ago," River gives them out orders for things to do.

"Pretty Boy. Step into my office," River calls out for the Time Lord's attention as she goes over to a desk nearby. Unknown to her that she would be in for a shocking discovery.

"Professor Song, why am I the only one wearing my helmet?" Mr Lux commands to know why she asked him to put on his helmet.

"I don't fancy you," she returned cheekily to him.

The Doctor having got off the floor, goes over to Proper Dave slipping on his glasses seeing if he needed any assistance with the computer terminal, "Probably I can help you."

"Pretty Boy, with me I said," River called out again from the other side of the room as she stood by the desk.

"Oh, I'm Pretty Boy?" The Doctor asked rather dumbfounded, pointing to himself looking over to Alice and Donna.

Alice nodded, "Yes, you obviously are rather pretty but I'd rather call you handsome," the words slipped without her really thinking. Having gotten rather distracted by his 'sexy specs' that always made him look so ridiculously gorgeous, along with his messy spiked up hair.

"Ooh, that came out a bit quick!" Donna teased her, as she covered her face in embarrassment.

"Pretty?!"

"Meh," Donna makes a sound statement on what she thought.

"Well a little bit foxy," once again Alice's couldn't control herself, and quickly covers her face again. She hasn't got a clue what's come over her.

The Doctor leaves walking away with a grin on his face, not having minded Alice's accidental compliments she gave but found it rather cute. He stops midway at the others, "Don't let your shadows cross! Seriously, don't even let them touch. Any of them could be infected," before turning back making his way over to Professor Song.

"Thanks," River tells him rather grateful that he showed up, pulling out a TARDIS styled journal out of her bag.

"For what?" He frowned wondering what she meant trying to figure her out.

"The usual," she shrugged, "For coming when I call."

"Oh, that was you?"

"You're doing a very good job, acting like you don't know me," she smiled at him, "I'm assuming there's a reason," River thinks he's putting on an act with her, when he really was just being himself.

"A fairly good one, actually."

"OK, shall we do diaries, then?" she picked up the journal, "Where are we this time? Uh, going by your face, I'd say it's early days for you. Yes? So, um...," she flipped through some pages, "Crash of the Byzantium, have we done that yet?" he looks back at her, expressionless, "Obviously ringing no bells," she flicked through more pages of the book, "Right, um, oh. Picnic at Asgard. Have we done Asgard yet?" But it's that once again he stares back at her, "Obviously not. Blimey, very early days, then. Huh, life with a time traveller, never knew it could be such hard work," She laughs lightly, while the Doctor had just got more puzzled, "Look at you!" she whispered in realisation, "You're young," River looked him over.

"I'm really not, you know."

"No, but you are," she reached out touching his face, "Your eyes. You're younger than I've ever seen you."

It's that from watching from across the other side of the room Alice couldn't help but feel the jealousy that was boiling inside, making the watch heat uncomfortably against her skin, telling her that River was doing this to break her.

"You've seen me before, then?" He asked taking River's hand off his face not wanting it there. As the woman was acting like she's know him for a long time, but he, he hasn't known her at all.

"Doctor... please tell me you know who I am?" River asks hopeful but rather hurt by his actions.

"Who are you?" The Doctor asks her looking back at her, as if she were just a stranger.


	14. Silence in the Library Part 3

Disclaimer: Alice & Ariana belong to me the rest is BBC.

River was about to speak again, but the moment is interrupted by a noise that is oddly familiar to both the sisters. As they all went to gather around a terminal that Proper Dave is at.

"Sorry, that was me," he apologised as Alice stood next to Donna, slipping her arm through hers, "Trying to get through into the security protocols, I seem to have set something off. What is that? Is that an alarm?"

"Doctor?" Donna asked as he looked over at her, "Doctor, that sounds like..."

"A phone," Alice finished for her, no wonder it didn't sound nothing like an alarm to her.

"I'm trying to call up the data core," Proper Dave explained, as the Doctor rushed over to join them at the terminal, "But it's not responding. Just that noise."

"But it's a phone!" Donna cried rolling her eyes, as River stayed slightly back.

"Let me try something," the Doctor lightly nudged Proper Dave out the way and started typing in commands. After a couple of seconds, the terminal's screen came up with symbol Alice thought she'd seen on the security camera earlier along with the words 'ACCESS DENIED' flashing across it.

"Ok, doesn't like that, let's try something else..." this time it did work, "Ok, here it comes..." he grinned happily as it clears, only to blink in surprise as a little with brown hair and purple clothes, doing some drawing in an living room appears.

"Hello?" the Doctor asked awkwardly as the girl now noticed him.

"Hello," she replied back curiously, "Are you in my television?"

He blinks again, "Well, no, I'm, I'm... sort of in space. I, I was trying to call up the data core of a triple-grid security processor."

"Would you like to speak to my dad?"

"Dad or your mum, that'd be lovely."

The little girls head tilted to the side, "I know you! You were in my Library."

Alice raised an eyebrow, "Your Library?"repeating the girl.

"The Library's never been on the television before. What have you done?"

"Ah, I... I just rerouted the interface..." The Doctor explains to her what he'd done, then suddenly the connection breaks the screen going blank.

"What happened, who was that?" River asks about the little girl, whom the Doctor had just been speaking to.

"Yeah, where did she come from and how did she know who we are?" Alice asks, wondering about the little girl who had recognised her and the Doctor.

But the Doctor gives them no reply trying to trace back the signal, but once again the computer denied him access. "I need another terminal." He announced running across to the computer on the other side of the room to where he was last with River.

"Keep working on those lights, we need those lights!" He tells them rather bossily to be more speedy with the lights.

"You heard him, people, let there be light." River instructs them sort of in the same manner, while out the corner of her eye, she sees Alice approaching the Doctor and lean on the desk next to him, looking on at him with admiration in her eyes as he worked at the terminal.

Alice sees Professor Song's TARDIS styled journal catch her eye, the one she'd flicked through when she'd spoken to the Doctor. She had this overwhelming, yet tempting urge to just pick it up and look inside it, wanting to know the truth of the woman's hatred towards her. The Doctor suddenly gets distracted, now seeing Alice staring at the journal.

She makes a grab for it, picking it up off the desk feeling the Doctor's eyes on her, "Alice, put that down now," He told her seriously to leave it be

"But Doctor, aren't you just as curious as I am about how she knows you?" Alice asks if he would, consider taking a peak inside, waving it about before him.

Instantly he snatched it from her hand, about to open it doing something he really shouldn't. "Sorry. You're not allowed to see inside the book, it's against the rules." River speaks rather disappointed in him, and more angry at Ari, who had probably tempted him into looking, taking it away from him and stuffing it back in her bag.

"What rules?" The Doctor questions why he can't look.

"Yes, what rules?" Alice asks, wondering the exact same thing.

"Your rules." She replied instantly looking to the Doctor, before leaving.

"I really don't like her," Alice comments scathingly, as she watched her walk away.

"The feelings mutual, I don't like her much either," the Doctor agreed with her and goes back to sorting the computer terminal out.

Suddenly out of nowhere, books start flying off the shelves from every corner of the room. A book hitting the back Alice's head rather hard.

"Ow! What the hell!" She complains, rubbing the spot where the book had hit her, wincing slightly when she touched it, and it made her feel rather dizzy.

"What's that?" The Doctor now asks, looking up from the terminal after hearing Alice, only now seeing the books fly about. "I didn't do that, did you do that?" He then wonders if he's done something, then looks over to Proper Dave at the other terminal, seeing if he'd anything to do with it.

"Not me." He replies, shaking his head.

The Doctor turns back to the terminal. The screen again shows 'access denied', along with the word 'CAL' showing up on the screen.

"What's CAL?" The Doctor asks himself scratching his head.

When the books finally stop flying, Donna walks over to Miss Evangelista, who seemed very stressed by the event, to comfort her. While the Doctor now, for some reason thought it would be a good time to check Alice over and make sure no damage was done to her.

"Right, follow my finger." He instructs the young woman, holding it in front of her face, moving it back and forth following it like she was told.

"Why, the eye test?" Alice asks out of general curiosity.

"To check you haven't got a concussion, from being hit on the back of the head with a flying book, don't want you passing out on me now do we," The Doctor replies, joking a little giving her that cheeky grin she so loved much. "Anything else, headache, nausea any tiredness?" he checks with her the few of the symptoms.

"No, not feeling anything like that at the moment." Alice brushes off that she's fine, starting to stand on her feet, she sways nearly losing her balance, completely forgetting how dizzy she'd been getting caught by the Doctor falling into his arms at just at the right time and getting stood upright by him.

"Woah. A bit dizzy are we?" He asks Alice looking down at her, she nodding her head in reply, he brushes a lose strand of red hair away from her face, being rather affectionate towards her, making Alice blush from him being soo close.

"What caused that? Is it the little girl?" River now asks about the child they'd seen earlier, breaking the two apart so she could gain the Doctor's attention and get back on topic.

"But who is the little girl? What's she got to do with this place?" He now asks what the child had to do with the Library. While Donna now comes over to Alice, to check on her after the Doctor had caught her after her dizzy spell.

"How does the data core work? What's the principle? What's CAL?" He asks himself pacing about.

"Ask Mr Lux." River suggests to him.

"CAL, what is it?" He turns to ask the man in charge, seeing if he would know.

"Sorry. You didn't sign your personal experience contracts." Mr Lux puts back in reply rather rudely, that he would not give the Doctor what he needed because he never signed on the dotted line.

"Mr Lux, right now, you're in more danger than you've ever been in your whole life. And you're protecting a patent?" The Doctor relays to him, wondering why Mr Lux found whatever was more important for him to protect than the safety of his own team.

"I'm protecting my family's pride." Mr Lux puts back that it's for the sake of his family's honour.

"Well, funny thing, Mr Lux, I don't want to see everyone in this room dead because some idiot thinks his pride is more important." The Doctor voices his concerns to him not seeing eye to eye with the man on the matter.

"Then why don't you sign his contract?" River asks in suggestion if he would reconsider. "I didn't either. I'm getting worse than you." She then puts in, that she never followed the rules like he did either. Making Alice and Donna look at her oddly.

"Okay, okay, okay. Let's start at the beginning. What happened here? On the actual day, a hundred years ago, what physically happened?" He now goes on to ask, ignoring River entirely, now needing more background information on how the Library became what it it.

A panel of the Library wall slides open, unseen by anyone but only except for Miss Evangelista.

"There was a message from the Library. Just one. 'The lights are going out'. Then the computer sealed the planet, and there was nothing for a hundred years." River tells him what happened.

"It's taken three generations of my family just to decode the seals and get back in." Mr Lux informs how long it took to access the Library.

"Um... excuse me..." Miss Evangelista tries to get their attention.

"Not just now.' But Mr Lux just brushes her off.

"There was one other thing in the last message..." River starts to say that there was something else

"That's confidential." Mr Lux stops her before she can tell the Doctor anymore, dragging her aside.

"I trust this man. With my life, with everything." She tells him that the Doctor was someone dear to her

"You've only just met him!" Mr Lux puts back not entirely believing her words.

"No, he's only just met me." She says that this is the first time that they've met.

"Um. This might be important actually..." Miss Evangelista, again tries to get Mr Lux's attention.

"In a moment!" And just brushes her off, like the time before.

"This is a data extract that came with the message." River shows the Doctor the message on her PDA..

"'4022 saved. No survivors.'" the Doctor reads off the screen before him.

"4022, that's the exact number of people who were in the Library when the planet was sealed." River tells him that it was equal to the amount of people that were here that day when it happened.

"But how can 4022 people have been saved if there were no survivors?" Donna asks, finding it rather confusing.

"Yeah, that doesn't make any sense whatsoever." Alice voices her opinion on how strange it seemed.

"That's what we're here to find out." River tells that was the other reason the expedition was here for.

"And so far, what we haven't found are any bodies." Mr Lux speaks it was good they had not come across any dead people yet.

Yet while they were speaking to each other, they haven't noticed Miss Evangelista walking out of the room through the open wall panel. Not long after they hear the young woman's scream. They immediately run towards where it was heard arriving in a lecture room but only find a skeleton sitting in a chair, in what looked to be a shredded white suit.

"Everybody, careful! Stay in the light." The Doctor instructs to them in warning. But feeling also rather protective of Alice, bringing and keeping her close to his side as possible.

"You keep saying that. I don't see the point!" Proper Dave tells the Doctor, he doesn't see sense of what he wants them to this for.

"Who screamed?" The Doctor asks the others who they think it could be. As they look over the skeleton before them all.

"Miss Evangelista." Proper Dave suggests who it could've been that screamed.

"Where is she?" The young Noble looks around the room as much as she could be from being held by the Doctor's side, in search for the young woman but she was nowhere in sight.

"Miss Evangelista, please state your current..." River speaks into the communicator on her suit, but at the same time it echoes her voice that is directly coming from the skeleton. "Please state your current..." She tries again to make sure she's not hearing things "...position." She finished in a whisper, realising it was indeed Miss Evangelista.

She pulls out a piece of the spacesuit's collar from behind the skeleton's back. The green lights of the communicator are still on. "It's her. It's Miss Evangelista." River speaks sadly.

"We heard her scream a few seconds ago. What could do that to a person in a few seconds?" Anita voices how impossible this seemed, what could of done this.

"It took a lot less than a few seconds." The Doctor tells that it was much more quicker than it seemed to be.

"What did?" Anita asks wondering.

"Hello?" The voice of Miss Evangelista calls out from the communicator.

"Um, I'm sorry everyone, um, this isn't going to be pleasant. She's ghosting." River speaks rather dauntingly. Which the others seemed to understand but Donna and Alice didn't.

"She's what?" They both ask wanting to understand.

"Hello, excuse me? I - I'm sorry, hello? Excuse me?" Miss Evangelista calls out to them again wanting a response.

"That's... That's her, that's Miss Evangelista!" Donna now realises shocking her to the core. Alice now rather scared grips onto the Doctors arm.

"I don't want to sound horrible, but couldn't we just... you know?" Other Dave tries to make a suggestion of turning off the communicator.

"This is her last moment... no, we can't. A little respect, thank you." But River tells how wrong it seems to do such a thing.

"Sorry, where am I? Excuse me?" The voice if the young woman calls out again to them

"But that's Miss Evangelista." Alice says getting rather upset by what she was hearing and seeing.

"It's a data ghost, she'll be gone in a moment." River explains. "Miss Evangelista, you're fine, just relax. We'll be with you presently." She then speaks into her communicator giving the young woman who was passing some reassurance.

"What's a data ghost?"Donna asks what it is, trying to keep hold of her emotions.

"There's a neural relay in the communicator, lets you send thought mails. That's it there, those green lights. Sometimes it can hold an impression of a living consciousness for a short time after death. Like an after image." The Doctor explains to her what it is, pointing out what it is on the suit. Alice just felt that it didn't seem right.

"My grandfather lasted a day. Kept talking about his shoelaces." Anita spoke fondly of her relative, with a sad smile.

"She's in there!" Alice pulls out of the Doctors grasp pointing out, rather distressed by the situation

"I can't see, I can't... Where am I?" The voice of the young woman still goes on.

"She's just brain waves now. The pattern won't hold for long." Proper Dave says that wasn't long left.

"She's conscious!" Donna now voices her concern.

"But she's thinking." Alice speaks, tears on the verge of breaking from her eyes.

"I can't see, I can't... I don't know what I'm thinking."

"She's a footprint on the beach. And the tide's coming in." The Doctor explains to both of them, with as much reassurance as he could giving her the sisters shoulders a comforting squeeze.

"Where's that woman? The nice woman... is she there?" Miss Evangelista asks for someone in particular and Alice had a feeling she was asking for Donna.

"What woman?" Mr Lux asks.

"She means... I think, she means me." Donna replies realising, it was her that the young woman wanted her to speak with.

"Is she there? The nice woman?" Miss Evangelista calls for Donna again.

"Yeah, she's here, hang on," River speaks into her communicator to the young woman, before allowing access to Donna. "Go ahead. She can hear you."

"Hello? Are you there?" She asks to see if Donna is still there, but she's afraid to move shaking her head in fear.

"Help her." The Doctor whispers to the older Noble giving some to her guidance no matter how scary and daunting it seemed.

"She's dead." Donna points out, her voice trembling slightly. It's Alice that decided to give her big sister that extra nudge of confidence, even though she was a little terrified of the situation herself.

"Yeah. Help her." The young Noble whispers in reassurance, giving her sisters shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"Hello? Is that the nice woman?" The young woman asks if Donna is still here.

"Yeah. Hello. Yeah, I'm, I'm... I'm here. You OK?" She checks up on how Miss Evangelista is hoping she was alright. Alice wonders in thought, if the young woman knew she's was actually dead? But it was just too horrible to even ponder on for a second.

"What I said before, about being stupid. Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh." Miss Evangelista speaks to Donna, wanting her to make a promise.

"Course I won't. Course I won't tell them." Donna makes her promise to the young woman.

"Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh..." She repeats it again.

"I won't tell them. I said I won't." Donna confirms that she wouldn't tell a soul.

"Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh." But repeats her promise again.

"I'm not going to tell them." And once again Donna makes that promise as the green lights of the neural relay start blinking.

"Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh." Miss Evangelista speaks this one last time.

"She's looping now. The pattern's degrading." River explains the thoughts were now getting weaker and start to fade.

"I can't think, I...don't know, I... I... I... Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream." Miss Evangelista speaks for the last and final time the last words on repeat over and over and again. It was just the most disturbing thing that both of them have ever witnessed since meeting the Doctor.

"Does anybody mind if I...?" River makes a suggestion to turn it off, the others nodding their heads in agreement and in doing so she approaches the skeleton turning off the relay.

"That was... that was horrible. That was the most horrible thing I've ever seen." Donna sobs in sadness to the Doctor who brought a comforting hand to her shoulder. Alice curled in to his side not being able to hold back her tears she was now shedding, as the Doctor rubbed her back to calm her.

"No. It's just a freak of technology. But whatever did this to her, whatever killed her... I'd like a word with it." River now speaks frankly wanting to know of the creature.

"I'll introduce you." The Doctor offers to show them the creature, rushing out the room Alice now attached to his hand the others hurrying behind him.


	15. Silence in the Library Final

Disclaimer: Doctor Who is the BBC's and Alice Noble and Ariana belong to me.

"I'm gonna need a packed lunch," the Doctor called out for somebody to give him food for what he needed to show them all as they come back into the room, Alice still firmly attached to his hand.

"Hang on," River tells him she has some, going over to her and crouching down to open it the Time Lord following right behind her after he lets go of Alice's hand, which he really didn't want to do but just wanted to keep her a safe distance from the very woman that despised her.

"What's in that book?" The Doctor asks River with curiosity, coming to crouch down beside her, seeing her fish out the now familiar Tardis style journal out of her bag in search for her lunch. He just really wanted the woman to explain herself more to him.

"Spoilers," River just simply replies, that she couldn't tell him a thing of what was contained inside the journal.

"Who are you?" He asks River sternly, wanting to know the truth about her connection to him. But not only him Ari as well.

"Professor River Song, University of..." River replies, dodging what he wanted hear with some nonsense of her profession instead.

"To me. Who are you to me and her?" The Doctor tries again, this time putting Ari into the question, before subtly looking over to the young Noble briefly who was with her big sister. But River doesn't give her any notice in the slightest.

"Again... spoilers," she replies to him simply, now holding a lunch box out to him. "Chicken, and a bit of salad. Knock yourself out."

The Doctor stares at her questionably a few seconds longer, more confused and aggravated about Professor Song than he ever was to begin with. "Right, you lot. Let's all meet the Vashta Nerada!" the Doctor announced to everyone, with the flick of the torch that he held in his hand.

Awhile later...

In the Library, the Doctor is now on the floor, examining the shadows with the his sonic. So he could show everyone the deadly being that lurked there. While he was doing this, Alice was nearby holding onto the lunch box for him, keeping out of River's way not wanting to be anywhere near her.

"You travel with him, don't you? The Doctor, you travel with him?" River asks Donna out of general interest.

"Aren't you forgetting her and all?" Donna brushing past her question entirely asking one of her own, nodding her head over to where her sister stood nearby the Doctor. Reminding the woman she wasn't the only one that came along with him. Also, it makes Donna wonder what River has against Alice to treat her so badly. Maybe it wasn't her sister, she was mad at but the Time Lady, who was currently contained in the locket hanging around her sister's neck.

"Yes...," River replies harshly, glancing over at Ariana for a few seconds before looking away. "Of course I see her I'm not blind," River goes on in a scathing tone. "What does she have to do with anything?"

"What has she done to you that's so bad?" Donna puts back moodily in question, crossing her arms not liking at all how River spoke about her sister.

"Something unsettling that I would rather not speak of," River replied not really wanting to divulge in the matter.

"Proper Dave, could you move over a bit?" The Doctor asked the man as kindly as he could to move out the way, while still moving along with the sonic.

"Why? But.."the young man doesn't quite understand what he's trying to do.

"Over there by the water cooler. Thanks," He instructs Proper Dave to join the rest of the group, in which he eventually does.

"You know them, don't you?" Donna asks River breaking the silence between them, while watching her sister follow the Doctor around the room, who was admiring him from afar while still holding the lunch box.

"Oh, God, do I know that man. We go way back, that man and me. Just not this far back," River replied disclosing Alice once again, but at the same time sounding rather cryptic.

"I'm sorry, what?" Donna asked, not really understanding.

"He hasn't met me yet. I sent him a message, but it went wrong, it arrived too early. This is the Doctor in the days before he knew me. And he looks at me, he looks right through me and it shouldn't kill me, but it does," River goes on speaking rather sadly the Doctor doesn't know her.

"What are you talking about? Are you just talking rubbish? Do you know them or don't you?" Donna asked rather firmly, still wanting answers.

"Donna! Quiet! He's trying to work," Alice shouted across the room obviously having heard snippets of the conversation. The truth was she didn't want to hear anymore, but also wanted to help the Doctor concentrate.

"Sorry, Alice!" Donna called back over to her sister in apology. Suddenly, River comes to a realisation who these two women were, that the woman holding her lunch box for the Doctor right now wasn't but somebody else. This was Ari, in her days before she was a Time Lady but right now at this moment was someone's family.

"Donna? You're Donna? Donna Noble and she's your sister?" River asks to just make sure looking to her then Alice. Maybe the last thing she wanted to do was to treat the young woman unkindly. Even though what she would do in the future was already set in place and couldn't be changed.

"Yeah, she's my sister. Why?" Donna asked, noticing the look on Professor Song's face.

"I do know them. But in the future. Their personal future," River informed Donna, speaking of the Doctor and Ariana knowing what would be in store for them very soon. But she also knew Donna wasn't involved in any of it.

"So why don't you know me? Where am I in the future?" Donna asked, wanting to know if she had any more adventures with the Doctor and her sister. She starts to reply, but gets interrupted by the Doctor.

"OK, we've got a live one!" the Doctor addressed the room of people, who come over while Alice passed him the lunch box. "That's not darkness down those tunnels, this is not a shadow. It's a swarm. A man-eating swarm," he goes on explaining about thecreatures that lurked in the shadows, taking the chicken leg and throwing it into darkness, but there was nothing left but bone once it hit the ground. While witnessing this it sent a chilling shiver down Alice's spine.

"The piranhas of the air, the Vashta Nerada. Literally 'the shadows that melt the flesh'. Most planets have them, but usually in small clusters. I've never seen an infestation on this scale, or this aggressive," the Doctor explained more about how common they were.

"What d'you mean, most planets? Not Earth?" Donna asked, her and Alice now coming crouch down either side of him, hoping they didn't live at home.

"Mmmm, Earth, and a billion other worlds. Where there's meat, there's Vashta Nerada. You can see them sometimes, if you look. The dust in sunbeams," the Doctor gives her an honest reply that at times they could be seen in the sunlight.

"If they were on Earth, we'd know," Alice wondered out loud not really liking the thought of the Vashta Nerada having been on Earth all this time.

"Nah, normally they live on road kill. But sometimes people go missing. Not everyone comes back out of the dark," the Doctor reassured Alice, squeezing her hand lightly in comfort, not wanting her to worry.

"Every shadow?" River asked him what made him so sure about this, as she looked down a corridor of shelves pointing her torch down it.

"No. But any shadow," the Doctor warned in reply that it could be all kinds.

"So what do we do?" River asked in a serious tone, seeing if there was anything the Doctor could do to sort this out.

"Daleks - aim for the eyestalk. Sontarans - back of the neck. Vashta Nerada... Run! Just run," he tells what could be done what he has dealt with in the past, but the one thing they couldn't escape was the shadows.

"Run? Run where?" River asked the Doctor trying to understand, still gazing down the corridor.

"This is an index point. There must be an exit teleport somewhere," the Doctor wonders aloud hoping there is means of escape, getting to his feet and helping Alice up as well along with Donna he turns to Mr Lux seeing as he was in charge.

"Don't look at me, I haven't memorised the schematics!" Mr Lux informed rather rudely, that he hadn't looked the entire workings of the planet over.

"Doctor, the little shop! They always make you go through the little shop on the way out so they can sell you stuff," Donna recalled, having seen The Library's shop when they had entered this very room.

"You're right! Brilliant! That's why I like the little shop!" the Doctor praised Donna, grabbing ahold of Alice's hand a way for him to know that she was safe making him feel rather at ease.

"OK, let's move it!" Proper Dave calls to the rest of his team, as he started heading towards the gift shop. But it's that the Doctor spots something wrong, something disturbing on the ground underneath the mans feet. "Actually, Proper Dave, could you stay where you are for a moment?" The Doctor stops the man in his tracks.

"Why?" Proper Dave asks, stoping and looking over to him.

"I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. But you've got two shadows," the Doctor breaks to him, looking down at the mans feet and the two shadows coming out. This had caught the whole rooms attention making them look on in horror, while Alice and Donna gasped at the sight.

"What's done this? The Vashta Nerada?" Alice asks if it's the creatures in the shadows.

"It's how they hunt Alice, they latch on to a food source and keep it fresh," the Doctor replied it's what they do when hungry, letting go of Alice's hand even though he didn't want to.

"What do I do?" Proper Dave now sounding rather scared asked of the Doctor for instruction.

"You stay absolutely still. Like there's a wasp in the room, like there's a million wasps," the Time Lord relayed to him, giving something off the top of his head.

"We're not leaving you, Dave," River offers her fellow archeologist some support, that she and the rest were staying for him.

"Course we're not leaving. Where's your helmet? Don't point, just tell me," the Doctor agrees with River, before asking Proper Dave for his headgear making sure he didn't move an inch.

"On the floor, by my bag," he nervously replied, as Anita went over to his bag and grabbing hold Proper Dave's helmet.

She makes her way back over, the Doctor calls out to stop her. "Don't cross his shadow!" He held out his hands for the helmet and she passed it over to him. "Thanks. Now, the rest of you, helmets back on and sealed up. We'll need everything we've got," the Doctor now asked for the others to put their helmets on, while he helped Proper Dave with his.

"But, Doctor, we haven't got any helmets," Donna pointed out to the Doctor herself and Alice having nothing to protect themselves with, while the others around them put helmets on.

"Yeah, but we're safe anyway," but Alice having known the Doctor long enough by now to tell that he was lying about it.

"How are we safe, exactly?" Alice asked moodily, starring at him feeling rather hurt that he lied to them both.

"We're not, that was a clever lie to shut you up," the Doctor confessed truthfully, having not liked the stare Alice gave now making him feel rather guilty that he couldn't protect her or Donna. "Professor, anything I can do with the suit?" He looked to Mr Lux, seeing if he could do anything about the spacesuits.

"What good are the damn suits? Miss Evangelista was wearing her suit, there was nothing left," Mr Lux mentions in reply that the suits were pretty much useless seeing as someone had been taken already.

"We can increase the mesh-density, dial it up 400%. Make it a tougher meal," Professor Song suggested they strengthen the material of the suits.

"OK," the Doctor taking the idea on, fetches out his sonic using it on Proper Dave's suit. "800%! Pass it on," after he calls out he's finished about to give the sonic to River. But he's in for a shock as she held one up that is similar in comparison to his own. The outside looked the same rather worn and a little scorched, except for the modified extras that had been added on the outside and that instead the tip being blue it was purple.

"Gotcha!" River says somewhat cheerfully with a smile showing it to him.

"What's that?" The Doctor asked point at the sonic in River's hand, still rather shock but also wanting to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"It's a screwdriver," she replied to him simply, not having noticed the expression on his face.

"It's sonic," he now points at it once again, still in a state of shock wondering why she had his screwdriver. If it was his screwdriver that is?

"Yeah, I know. Snap!" River puts back, raising it with a smile as before going around the room sealing the others suits while he looked on with suspicion.

"Doctor she's got a..." Alice started to speak in surprise seeing the similar device in Professor Songs hand, but was whisked away by the Doctor before she could finish. Who grabbed hold of her and Donna's hands

"With me, come on!" The Time Lord called, running them both into the gift shop. He hated that he had to do this and knew Alice would truly hate him for it. But it was to keep them safe and the TARDIS was the safest place they could go.

"What are we doing, we're shopping? Is it a good time to shop?" Donna asked looking about as well as Alice at the room of gifts in awe.

"No talking, just moving! Try it! Right, stand there in the middle. It's a teleport. Stand in the middle both of you. Can't send the others, TARDIS won't recognise them," the Doctor rather on edge, pulled them to the platform getting them both to stand on it.

"What are you doing?" Donna asked, starting to realise what he's doing as went over to the controls.

"You're sending us back to the TARDIS, aren't you?" Alice asked in a rather hurt tone, but she wanted to stay with him, only knowing that there was no chance of it happening.

"You both don't have a suit, you're not safe!" The Doctor replied more firmly then he meant to, looking over at them seeing the way Alice was looking at him made his hearts ache. But he had to do this to keep not only her from harm but Ariana too.

"You don't have a suit, so you're in just as much danger as we're in we're not leaving..." Donna pointed out in an obvious tone, nodding her head in his direction that he had nothing to protect him either.

"Doctor, please just let us..." Alice started pleading to the Doctor for her and Donna to stay by his side, but she was cut short.

"Alice! Donna! Let me explain," the Time Lord starts to tell them, before stopping to push the lever teleporting both of the sisters as they disappeared before him. "Oh, that's how you do it!" He somewhat happily exclaimed afterwards, turning in a small spin. The Doctor now went over and looked at the spot where she once stood crouching down before it placing his hand upon it.

"I'm sorry Alice, I really am. I just hope you're alright," He spoke remorsefully, getting up looking at the spot a couple seconds more. But neither her or Donna were safe as they started to appear in TARDIS the teleportation process had failed and both sisters disappeared screaming.

"Doctor!" Meanwhile, River called for said mans attention from the other room. Breaking his concentration from the where he had his eyes on, now running back into the room.

"Where did it go?" The Doctor asked Proper Dave, having noticed the man had moved from the current spot he'd been in, not seeing the two shadows anymore just the one. 'Oh, this is bad, very bad' the Time Lord thought.

"It's just gone. I... I looked round, one shadow. See," Proper Dave speaks happily.

"Does that mean we can leave? I don't want to hang around here," River asked the Doctor, wanting to know if it was now safe. While asking this she noticed the two sisters had not come back in the room with him. Meaning he had sent them back onto the TARDIS.

"I don't know why we're still here. We can leave him, can't we? I mean, no offence..." Mr Lux spoke for the first time in ages without a care for his fellow team member.

"Shut up, Mr. Lux," Professor Song bites back at him, not liking what he had said about Proper Dave.

"Did you feel anything? Like an energy transfer? Anything at all?" The Doctor asked Proper Dave with all seriousness, wanting to know if something got into the suit.

"No, no, but, look, it's, it's gone," Proper Dave replied rather relived, turning around on the spot to show he was clear of the shadows.

But it's that the Doctor that calls out for Proper Dave to holt his movements. Having a feeling the Vashta Nerada weren't quite done yet. "Stop there, stop, stop, stop there, stop moving! They're never just gone. And they never give up," he now kneels down on the floor to investigate the shadows with his sonic, muttering to himself while doing it.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?" Proper Dave asked out in confusion wondering why the power has gone.

"No-one, they're fine," the Doctor confirmed ton Proper Dave that everything was perfectly OK.

"No, seriously, turn them back on!" But Proper Dave calls out that he still can't see any light.

"They are on," River now herself assured him that the lights in the room aren't off.

"I can't see a ruddy thing," Proper Dave calls out rather panicked at this point.

"Dave, turn round," The Doctor gets the man to look at him hopefully not fearing that the worse might of happened but it had. As Proper Dave faced the Time Lord and the rest of the group his face could no longer be seen and darkness having took it's place.

"What's going on? Why can't I see? Is the power gone, are we safe here?" Proper Dave questioned about the darkness.

"Dave, I want you stay still, absolutely still," the Doctor ordered him not to make any movement and soon after he goes ridged as a tree. "Dave, Dave? Dave, can you hear me, are you all right? Talk to me, Dave," he now asked checking on the man.

"I'm fine, I'm OK, I'm... I'm fine," Proper Dave gave the response that he was all good back to the Doctor even though his vision was now black.

"I want you to stay still, absolutely still," the Time Lord once again made sure he didn't go anywhere.

"I'm fine, I'm OK, I'm, I'm fine. I can't... Why can't I? I... I can't... Why can't I? I... I can't... Why can't I? I..." It's that Proper Dave's speech pattern starts breaking up and repeating itself and his communicator lights starting to blink.

"He's gone. He's ghosting," River now speaks fearing the worse had now happened to her friend.

"Then why is he still standing?" Mr Lux questions how Proper Dave could be still on his feet if he were now dead.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights? Hey! Who turned out the lights?" The voice of Dave starts shouting out in question over and over again as the Doctor slowly and cautiously approached him.

"Doctor, don't!" River called out in fear for him to be careful not wanting anything to happen.

"Dave, can you hear me?" The Doctor asked seeing if he could get a response from him.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" But again he just asked the same question as before, his hands coming out to wrap around the Doctor's neck starting to choke him. The helmet lights up with a eerie blue light only to show a only a skeleton was left within the spacesuit.

"Who turned out the lights? Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

"Excuse me!" River calls out for the skeleton/Proper Dave, stunning it with her sonic freeing the Doctor from its grasp.

"Back from it, get back, right back!" The Doctor shouted for them all to get back as the skeleton approached them in a rather awkward yet slow manner.

"Doesn't move very fast does it?" Professor Song questions the skeletons movements.

"It's a swarm in a suit. But it's learning,"the Doctor replied, as several shadows stretched out from the feet of the skeleton as moved towards the group.

"What do we do? Where do we go?" Mr Lux asked if either the Doctor or Professor Song had a plan to help them escape and luckily one of them did.

"See that wall behind you? Duck!" River called for their attention to get them out the way, aiming the sonic blaster at the wall making a hole in the wall.

"Squareness gun!" The Doctor called out in surprise, eyes going wide as dishes knowing what it was.

"Everybody out. Go, go, go! Move it, move, move! Move it, move, move!" River gets them to leave out through the hole her following behind them as they entered a shadowy aisle of book shelves.

"You said not every shadow,"River recalls something he mentioned.

"But any shadow!" The Doctor corrected her.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" The voice of the skeleton announced itself appearing in the aisle before them.

"Run!" Professor Song shouted in panic and without thinking she takes ahold if the Doctor's hand the others following behind as they made their escape.

-Doctor Who-

The Doctor is now balanced on a stool fiddling with a lamp using the sonic on it, while nearby him River and the others are catching their breath from running from the skeleton in the suit that used to be Proper Dave.

"Trying to boost the power. Light doesn't stop them, but it slows them down," the Time Lord explained what he's doing, pointing his sonic at the light trying to boost it's brightness but was struggling.

"So, what's the plan? Do we have a plan?" River asked the Doctor seeing if he had any ideas up his sleeve, while pulling out her sonic pointing it to the light that suddenly making it that much brighter.

"Your screwdriver... looks exactly like mine," the Doctor getting off the stool now points out rather confused how she had something that belonged to him.

"Yeah. But, you never gave it to me," River informed the Doctor, that he never did her his sonic. If he didn't give to her it must been Ari who will. But why would she give Professor Song his old screwdriver.

"This person wouldn't just wouldn't give my screwdriver to anyone," the Time Lord wondered aloud, about Ari giving his screwdriver to likes of this woman standing beside him.

"I'm not anyone," River replied.

"Who are you?" The Doctor questioned her very existence once again just starring at her.

"What's the plan?" River asked breaking his stare changing the subject.

"I teleported Donna and Alice back to the TARDIS. If we don't get back there in under five hours, emergency program one will activate," the Doctor explained what has been put into place for in case he couldn't back to the girls.

"Take them home, yeah," River responded knowing what it meant already. "We need to get a shift on," she informed the others they really needed to move.

The Doctor meanwhile got out his sonic to look at and suddenly becomes very concerned for the wellbeing of Donna and Alice having not received confirmation that they'd arrived in the TARDIS.

"Their not there. I should've received a signal, the console signals me if there's a teleport breach," he looks over to River holding the sonic by his ear.

"Well, maybe the co-ordinates have slipped. The equipment here's ancient." River suggests that something might have gone wrong during the process. She could see that this worried him as he ran over to the Node nearby.

"Is there a Donna and Alice Noble. There's a Donna or Alice Noble somewhere in this Library. Do you have the software to locate their position?" The Doctor rather panicked asked the robot to look for the sisters.

The head of the Node turns to greet the Doctor and when it does. Alice's face is upon it looking back at him, "Donna and Alice Noble have left the Library. Donna and Alice Noble have been saved," the Node relayed to him as in that moment he lost it. They can't be gone, they can't be dead.

"Alice! Donna!" The Time Lord voiced out in horror, his hands shakily running through his hair, now regretting sending them away. He just should of kept Alice where she was safe, by his side but now she wasn't.

"Donna and Alice Noble have left the Library. Donna and Alice Noble have been saved." the Node repeated again.

"How can it be Alice? How's that possible? What about Donna to?" River asked now just as concerned for the sisters.

"Donna and Alice Noble have left the Library. Donna and Alice Noble have been saved," the Node continued to repeat the message, as the Doctor reached up to cradle the face of the young woman that he has gone so crazy for, stroking her cheek with his thumb.

"Oh, Alice!" The Time Lord voices her name in pain trying not to break.

"Donna and Alice Noble have left the Library." the Node announced again.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" The skeleton/Proper Dave called out, making itself known appearing at the end of the aisle, but the Doctor still with his hand on the cheek of Node Alice's face hadn't moved out of despair of what was going on until River broke him out of it.

"Doctor!"

"Donna and Alice Noble have been saved."

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" The skeleton called as it got closer to them.

"Donna and Alice Noble have left the Library."

"Doctor, we've got to go, now!" River grabbed hold of The Doctor's hand pulling him along with the rest of the group behind them. He looked over his shoulder back at Alice's face on the Node and made a promise to himself that he would get them both back safe no matter the cost.


	16. Forest of the Dead Part 1

**Disclaimer:** Doctor Who is the BBC's and Alice Noble and Ariana belong to me.

In a hospital room, Alice found herself sitting on a bed in her pyjamas. The door of her room opened, a man wearing glasses and suit enters into the room.

"Hello, Alice." The man greeted her with a smile but she didn't have clue in the slightest who he was.

"Who are you?" Alice asked the man of his name in confusion.

"I'm Dr Moon. I've been treating you since you came here, two years ago." He reminded the young woman who he was.

It's all of a sudden Alice remembered him and apologised for the misunderstanding, getting up from her bed. "Oh, God, Dr Moon, I'm so sorry! What's wrong with me? I didn't know you for a moment,"

"And then you remembered. Shall we go for a walk?" Dr Moon says rather pleased, before suggesting they go outside.

And in a blink of an eye they are both now in the gardens out at the front of the hospital. Which confused Alice to how it happened so quickly.

"No more dreams, then? The Doctor and the blue box, time and space," Dr Moon asked hoping Alice had forgotten about the mysterious man.

"How did we get here?" Alice asked, looking around her .

"We came down the stairs, out the front door. We passed Mrs Ali on the way out," Dr Moon replied telling how they got down here in the first place.

"Yeah. Yeah, we did. I forgot that," Alice now recalled their journey out of the hospital.

"And then you remembered. Shall we go over to the library? I know how much you like to read," Dr Moon speaks gladly before suggesting they go to the place she loved most. They instantly appear in said room, Alice looking down at herself seeing her attire was different from before, making her think she must of gotten changed and come down here to meet Dr Moon afterwards.

"You said 'library' and suddenly we're here," Alice spoke in confusion, but now notices she's just speaking to thin air and Dr Moon is nowhere in sight.

She now looked through the aisles of bookshelves to find a good book to read. But it's that when Alice has found her book a Sherlock Holmes classic The Hounds of Baskerville she goes to her favourite place to read in the library.

When she reaches the fireplace to find her favourite chair occupied by an young man in his mid-twenties with his nose in a book, with floppy brown hair, wearing a tweed jacket with along with a red bow-tie and button-up shirt. There was something about the man that felt oddly familiar yet comforting.

Alice approached him and cleared her throat to get his attention, he looked up to see her standing before him. "Oh, hello," the man greeted her, his hazel-green eyes looking up at her.

"Um, hi, I hate to be rude but your kinda of sitting in my chair," Alice now greeted him, before nodding her head at said place he was sitting in.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know I'm new here you see," he apologised about to get out the chair for her.

"Oh, no that's fine stay," Alice insisted that he have the chair seeing as he looked quite comfortable in it when she'd got there so lets him have it anyway. "My names Alice, Alice Noble," she introduced herself, holding out her hand for him to take.

"John, John Smith," he returned his name to her with a small smile, as they shook hands firmly then let go. It was afterwards they gotten know each other a lot better until John asked Alice to go on a date with him down by the river.

"I never thought about dating some, especially one who wears a bow-tie of all things." Alice wondered aloud about his fashion choice, as the two strolled along a pathed meadow of flowers back towards the hospital, their arms looped together now rather at ease with each other.

"Is that meant to offend me in some way?" John asked out of taken aback about what she said, stopping them walking.

"No, of course not John what I was trying to say that it doesn't bother me." Alice confessed, looking into his green eyes that every time now took her breath away. Straight after speaking John surprised her with a kiss and somehow it felt right to Alice when they pulled away breathless a few seconds later, foreheads resting against each others.

"You amaze me Alice Noble," John whispered to Alice, rubbing their noses together as he held her close.

"You amaze me too John Smith," Alice put back, pulling away slightly and pecking him on the lips then resting her head on his shoulder. "What am I gonna do with you?" she now asked with a slight laugh looking up at him.

The years then went by after that, Alice and John moved into together, got married, later had two children twins called Jack and Monica.

"Stop it! Stop it now, we've got a visitor," Alice called out to her children, as they ran past her as upon entering the living room, Dr Moon had come for a visit and was sitting on the sofa looking through a photo album of the her life since leaving the hospital.

"You've done so much in seven years, Alice," Dr Moon spoke rather proudly at how far she's come.

"Ah, sometimes it feels more like 70," Alice sighed, voicing that she felt older than she should, perching herself on the arm of the sofa. "Mind you, sometimes it feels like no time at all," she said with a weak smile, finding it so confusing how quick it's gone.

"Can I just say what a pleasure it is to see you fully integrated," Dr Moon now says happily, about her having gotten on with things, as he stood up about to take his leave briefcase in hand and Alice getting up also. It's that Dr Moon starts to glitch and go fuzzy right before Alice's eyes like a broken TV, he suddenly gets replaced by somebody she instantly recognised. The Doctor.

"No, the signal's definitely coming from the moon. I'm blocking it, but it's trying to break through..." he speaks, the image of him holding the sonic above his head and glasses on not having noticed, until he turns around seeing her there. "Alice!"

The Doctor disappeared and Dr Moon came back, looking as though nothing had happened in the slightest. "Oops, sorry. Mrs Angelo's rhubarb surprise. Will I never learn?" he spoke rubbing his tummy slightly, while Alice stumbled backwards in utter shock after what she had just witnessed.

"The Doctor! I saw The Doctor!" Alice voiced in shock who she had just seen, dropping herself into the sofa, eyes wide and mouth open.

"Yes, you did, Alice. And then, you forgot," Dr Moon now reminds her and what just happened was completely wiped from her mind. Then her face changed to one of surprise looking up seeing him thinking he's just arrived.

"Dr Moon! Oh, hello! Shall I make you a cup of tea?" Alice greeted, really happy to see him and afterwards offers a drink.

 **-Doctor Who-**

Alice came back into the living room a couple of minutes later with two cups of tea in hand. "Here we are, Dr Moon." she's about to offer said Doctor's tea but he was nowhere to be seen and looks about the room confused.

Her little girl skips into the room red hair flowing behind her, coming up to her showing the clay person she made. "Mummy, I made you!" She told her mother.

"Oh, that's nice, Monica," Alice looked at the clay figure oddly noticing it had no facial features. "Where's the face?" she asked looking to her daughter.

"I don't know." Monica replied with a shrug of her shoulders, unsure about it herself.

Alice now put the cups of tea down on the coffee table, looking about the room, still confused as to where Dr Moon could have gotten to. "Did you see Dr Moon? Did he leave?" She asked John if he'd seen the man as soon as he closed the front door and entered the living room the children coming over to give him a hug.

"Daddy!"

"Hey! Hello, you two, come here! Big hugs, big Daddy hugs!" He crouched down, pulling both of them into his arms.

"Look what I made!" Monica picks up the faceless model showing it to her farther.

"Oh, it's Mummy?" John asked his daughter if it was supposed to be her mother.

"Erm, it hasn't got a face." Alice pointed out to the model, him being slightly out of character for a second finding it odd. "John, did you see Dr Moon?" she asked him if he'd seen the man.

"Um, No, why, was he here?" John asked back in reply shaking his head, that he'd never came across him.

"Yeah, just a second ago. You must have passed him." Alice approached the living room window looking up and down the street but there was no sign of him. The only thing she saw was a young woman in black Victorian dress passing by which confused her all the more.

"You all right?" Her husband asked with concern, coming up behind wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine, it's just..." Alice replied shaking her head lightly thinking she was imagining things, before turning in John's arms to face him wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Just?" he inquired with worry.

"Nothing," she now rested her head on John's shoulder as he brought her closer to him. "It's been a long day, that's all. I'm just tired." she now yawned in confession, as he stroked her head affectionately.

And soon as Alice said it they are suddenly in their bedroom, with pyjamas to boot. "You OK?" John asked coming over to her, seeing the spaced out yet confused look on his wife's face.

"I said I was tired, and..." she started to recall slowly. "...and we put the kids to bed, and we watched television."

"Yes, we did, now why don't we get ready for bed," he also recalled what happened before getting into his side of the bed and then patting hers for to get in. She goes over to get into the bed and joined her husband.

"I think there's something else I would like to do other than sleep." Alice put to John suggestively that she wasn't that tired yet, climbing over to straddle his legs leaning downwards to plant a firm, yet passionate kiss on his lips before he could even say a word.

He responded back with the same passion running his free hands down Alice's spine that made her shiver and gasp with pleasure. She now ran her hands through his brown hair, pulling it slightly making him moan happily into her mouth. He flipped them over, their lips separating as they rested their foreheads together breathing heavily, as they stared into each other's eyes.

"I love, you so much Alice," John whispered, brushing the hair out of her face then cradle the side of it.

"I love you too," She responded, before even their lips even barely brushed, they get taken from the moment, a noise coming from the front door downstairs.

"Was that a letter?" She asked looking up at John, wondering what it could be.

"It's midnight. A bit of on odd time for mail," he replied that seemed rather strange.

"Go and see what it is," she tells him to go and look, to scared to go and look herself. John now got up off Alice and out of the bed, leaving their bedroom. Alice herself got up walking over to her bedroom window. Again, she saw the young woman in black from before.

"Whoever you are, you sure know how to ruin a moment." Alice commented out loud in annoyance looking on at the woman.

"'The world is wrong.'" John spoke coming back into the bedroom, reading off the letter in his hands.

"What?" Alice asked, turning to look at him oddly.

"For you. Weird, though. 'Dear Alice, the world is wrong. Meet me at your usual play park, two o'clock tomorrow.'" He informed his wife that it was for her, reading the whole thing properly this time himself finding rather strange also, looking to the woman out the window.

She took the letter from him reading it to herself and after goes back over to the window to see the mysterious woman walk away. "What a nut job." Alice scoffed with disbelief shaking her head, as the woman walked away thinking 'there's no way I'm meeting her that's for sure.'

Alice now found herself coming to meet the woman at the playground, bringing Jack and Monica along. She now saw the black dressed Victorian woman sitting on a bench, her face covered in the same black veil.

"All right, you two, off you go, no fighting." She now told her children to be in their best behaviour, before ushering them off to go and play.

"I got your note last night. 'The world is wrong', what's that mean?" Alice now asked the young woman with curiosity mentioning the letter, as she sat down beside her.

"No, you didn't." The young woman replied simply, not looking at Alice in the slightest.

"I'm sorry, what?" Alice asks back in confusion, not understanding the young woman's reply.

"You didn't get my note last night. You got it a few seconds ago. Having decided to come, you suddenly found yourself arriving. That is how time progresses here, in the manner of a dream. You've suspected that before, haven't you, Alice Noble?" The young woman informally replied trying getting her to see what is happening before her knowing that she's noticed it before.

"How do you know me?" Alice asked taken aback.

"We met before briefly, in the Library, she replied honestly. "You're sister was kind to me. I hope to return this kindness to you."

"Your voice... I recognise it," Alice noticed how familiar it sounded.

"Yes, you do. I'm what is left of Miss Evangelista," the woman reminds her.

 **-Doctor Who-**

They are running through a connecting corridor between two tall buildings when the Doctor stops in his tracks, River nearly bumping into him, "Professor, go ahead, find a safe spot."

"It's a carnivorous swarm in a suit, you can't reason with it," River reminds him, not wanting to leave him alone with it.

"Five minutes," he promises, regardless of what River told him.

"Other Dave, stay with him, pull him out when he's too stupid to live... River ordered her fellow group member to keep watch, "Two minutes, Doctor!"

River, Anita and Mr Lux ran off, leaving the Doctor with Proper Dave and the walking corpse of Other Dave..

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

The Doctor moves closer, "You hear that?" he glares at the suit, "Those words? That is the very last thought of the man who wore that suit before you climbed inside it and stripped his flesh. That's a man's soul trapped inside a neural relay, going round and round forever. Now, if you don't have the decency to let him go, how about this? Use him. Talk to me. It's easy, neural relay. Just point and think. Use him, talk to me."

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

"The Vashta Nerada live on all the worlds in this system, but you hunt in forests," the Doctor stated, "What are you doing in a library?"

"We should go," Other Dave called for him, "Doctor!"

"In a minute," he called back to him, "You came to the Library to hunt, why? Just tell me why?"

"We...did not," the Vashta Nerada answers.

"Oh, hello," he waved nervously.

"We did not,"

"Take it easy, you'll get the hang of it," the Doctor went on to ask, "Did not what?"

"We... did not... come... here," it offers in return.

"Well, of course you did, of course you came here," he shook his head not getting it.

"We come from here."

"From here?" he tilted his head, not quite understanding.

"We hatched here."

"But you hatch from trees, from spores in trees," the Doctor argues in return.

"These are our forests."

"You're nowhere near a forest, look around you."

"These are our forests," it repeats.

"You're not in a forest, you're in a library," he tried to argue his case to the Vashta Nerada, until it dawned on him what they meant, "There are no trees in a...library."

"We should go," Other Dave calls, "Doctor!"

"Books," he shakes his head at the sure brilliance of it, "You came in the books. Microspores in a million million books."

"We should go. Doctor!".

"Oh, look at that. The forests of the Vashta Nerada, pulped and printed and bound. A million million books, hatching shadows."

"We should go. Doctor!"

The Doctor can no longer ignore the fact that Other Dave has long since passed. From the two shadows, to the blinks on the communicator and the skull inside the helmet, "Oh Dave!" he sighs, "Oh, Dave, I'm so sorry."

Both skeletons started to approach closer and closer to him.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

"We should go. Doctor!"

The Doctor starts stepping backwards keeping an eye on the skeletons, while he spotted a means of escape in the floor.

"Thing about me," he looks to the Daves, trying to distract them both as he moved backwards, "I'm stupid, I talk too much, always babbling on, this gob doesn't stop for anything. Wanna know the only reason I'm still alive?" the Doctor pauses, "Always stay near the door."

He points the sonic down at the floor, opened up a trap door and disappears falling through it. But luckily he grabbed onto the structure and climbs along it, sonic in his mouth.


	17. Forest of the Dead Part 2

**Disclaimer:** Doctor Who is the BBC's and Alice Noble and Ariana belong to me.

"I brought you to meet me here for a reason, because the playground is the only place you can see it, see the lie," Miss Evangelista goes on, before Alice even could ask more about getting her to see the reality of where she was.

"What lie?" Alice asked back, wondering what the young woman is getting at.

"The children, look at the children," she tries to get Alice to see.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Alice asked her sternly, "Why do you wear that veil? I wouldn't hide a face like yours."

"You remember my face? The memories are all still there. Alice, that crazy man you love is still in the Library, the Doctor is trying to save you at this moment. I know you have seen him Alice and he's real as you are. You've just been programmed not to look."

"Is this not real, are my children not real?" Alice asked still trying to make sense of it wanting to believe what the young woman was trying to tell her. "Well, what about the children? The children aren't dead. My children aren't dead." She went on to ask about Jack and Monica.

"Your children were never alive." The woman simply put that they don't even exist.

"Don't you say that. Don't you dare say that about my children!"Alice gets up from the bench angrily a nerve being hit.

"Look at your children. Look at all of them, really look." She gets her look over at the playground. Alice glanced over at the playground in that instant, it shocked her what she saw all of the children looked exactly the same as hers. "They're not real. Do you see it now? They're all the same. All the children of this world, the same boy and the same girl, over and over again."

"Stop it. Just stop it! Why are you doing this? Why wear that veil?" Alice shouted out, pulled off Miss Evangelista's veil revealing a terribly disfigured face.

 **-Doctor Who-**

In another large room of the Library, River, Anita and Mr Lux are gathered in a small area of light, River examining the shadows with her sonic.

"You know... it's funny, I keep wishing the Doctor was here," River remarked.

"The Doctor is here, isn't he?" Anita checks with her, "He's coming back, right?"

"You know when you see a photograph of someone you know, but it's from years before you knew them? It's like they're not quite... finished, they're not done yet. Well... yes, the Doctor's here and Ariana will be soon. They came when I called, just like they always do. But not my Doctor and certainly not this Ariana. Now my them... I've seen whole armies turn and run away from the Doctor. And he'd just swagger off along with Ari back to the TARDIS and open the doors with a snap of their fingers. The Doctor and Ariana... in the TARDIS... next stop: everywhere."

"Spoilers!" the Doctor called appearing at the top of some stairs, "Nobody can open a TARDIS by snapping their fingers. It doesn't work like that."

"It does for the Doctor and Ari," River returns with a knowing smirk, "Also only when the TARDIS gets cross especially it won't open for either of you."

"I am the Doctor."

"Yeah," River returned with a scoff, "Someday."

"How are you doing?" He now ignored her, walking over to check on Anita.

"Where's Other Dave?" River asked with a frown, noticing somebody is missing.

"Not coming, sorry," the Doctor replies honestly, with a shrug.

"Well, if they've taken him, why haven't they gotten me yet?" Anita questions.

"I don't know," he remarks, still seeing that she has two shadows, "Maybe tinting your visor's making a difference."

"It's making a difference all right," Anita remarks, "No-one's ever going to see my face again."

"Can I get you anything?" the Doctor sees if there's anything else he could do for her.

"An old age would be nice," she chuckles, "Anything you can do?"

"I'm all over it," he told her.

"Doctor..." Anita began, "When we first met you, you didn't trust Professor Song. And then she whispered a word in your ear, and you did. My life so far... I could do with a word like that. What did she say?" she paused briefly, "Give a dead girl a break. Your secrets are safe with me."

"Safe..." a sudden realisation came to him, mind racing at a hundred miles an hour.

"What?"

"Safe," he repeats it eyes going wide as saucers, "You don't say saved, nobody says saved, you say safe. The data fragment! What did it say?"

" '4,022 people saved. No survivors.' "

"Doctor?" River asks, seeing that the Doctor is getting worked up, having figured something out.

"Nobody says saved, nutters say saved, you say safe," he explained as turning to the group, "But you see, it didn't mean safe, it meant... it literally meant... saved!" he ran over to a terminal.

 **-Doctor Who-**

"What happened to your face?" Alice asked rather curious.

"Transcription errors. Destroyed my face, did wonders for my intellect. I'm a very poor copy of myself," Miss Evangelista explained herself.

But stops herself to look back at the children once again coming to some sort of realisation, "Where are we? Why are the children all the same?" She asked wanting to know.

"The same pattern over and over. It saves an awful lot of space." She replied that it helped, with some the storage here.

"Space?" Alice asked looking at her oddly.

"Cyberspace," Miss Evangelista simply replied.

 **-Doctor Who-**

The Doctor is working on the terminal bringing up the archival data of the very day everyone had vanished, "See, there it is, right there!" he points, reading the screen, "A hundred years ago, massive power surge, all the teleports going at once," he continued excitedly, "Soon as the Vashta Nerada hit their hatching cycle, they attack. Someone hits the alarm, the computer tries to teleport everyone out."

"It tried to teleport 4,022 people?" River breathed in shock.

"Succeeded, pulled 'em all out, but then what?" he asks rhetorically, "Nowhere to send them, nowhere safe in the whole Library, Vashta Nerada growing in every shadow. 4,022 people all beamed up and nowhere to go. They're stuck in the system, waiting to be sent, like emails. So what's a computer to do? What does a computer always do?"

"It saved them," River now understanding, blinks in wonder.

"The Library, a whole world of books, and right at the core, the biggest hard drive in history," he smiled knowing he's maybe found a way to get Alice and Donna back, "The index to everything ever written, backup copies of every single book. The computer saved 4,022 people the only way a computer can. It saved them to the hard drive."

 **-Doctor Who-**

"Your physical self is stored in the library as an energy signature. It can be actualised again whenever you or the Library requires." Miss Evangelista explained what this is.

"The Library? If my face ends up on one of those statues..." Alice now spoke fearfully, now remembering slightly.

"You remember the statues?" she asked, seeing that the memories of The Library are returning.

"Wait, no, just... hang on. So... this isn't the real me? This isn't my real body." Alice looks over to Miss Evangelista coming to understand this world wasn't hers.

"What you see around you, this entire world is nothing more than virtual reality." The woman explained that this world is nothing but a fake.

"So how did I get here?" Alice needed know how this happened.

"You got teleported. You're a perfect copy of yourself in the dream." The woman explained that she wasn't here just only a version of herself.

"If this is all a dream... whose dream is it?" Alice wonders who would create something like this.

"It's hard to see everything in the data core, even for me, but there is a word. Just one word. CAL." She replied that there is one thing responsible for this dream world.

"Mummy! My knee!" There's a sudden thud of something falling to the floor, before Alice hearing Monica calling out her name in pain. She is on the the ground cradling her leg, as her mother comes over to her.

"Oh, oh look at that knee! Oh, look at that silly old knee!" Alice takes a look at her daughters leg fussing over it and brought her into a hug, picking her up and resting Monica on her hip.

"She's not real. They're fictions. I'm sorry, but now that you understand that, you won't be able to keep a hold. They are sustained only by your belief." The young woman approached her trying to make her see what's happening.

"You don't know, you don't have children!" Alice shouted back in defence to glaring at her.

"Neither do you." She reminded her that the children weren't real. But Alice takes the hand of her son with her a daughter still on her hip and starts to walk away from the woman.

"Alice, for your own sake, let them go!" The Victorian called after her to get into her head that they don't exist.

 **-Doctor Who-**

An alarm suddenly started to go off.

"What is it?" Mr Lux looks up, "What's wrong?"

"Autodestruct enabled in 20 minutes," the computer informed, "Maximum erasure."

 **-Doctor Who-**

"Mummy, what did the lady mean? Are we not real? Where are we going?" Monica asked her mother as they walked out of the park.

"Home!" She replied angrily.

Alice and her children have just instantly appeared in the living room of her home as soon as she had said that's where they were going. The mood around her feels strange and the sky is red instead of blue. Also the sounds of alarms are going off around her.

"That was quick, wasn't it, Mummy?" Monica asked her rather surprised.

"Mummy, what's wrong with the sky?" Jack asked her pointing out at the window to the sky. They both looked out of the window and the sight terrified them. She brought her children to the sofa holding them tightly not wanting to let them go or let them slip from existence is sitting on the couch, holding the children.

 **-Doctor Who-**

"What's maximum erasure?" River asked getting rather concerned.

"20 minutes, this planet's gonna crack like an egg," the Time Lord replied honestly.

"No!" Mr Lux cried, "No, it's all right, the doctor moon will stop it. It's programmed to protect CAL."

"Mummy, you're hurting my hand." Her son complained, and she let go and put her arm around him.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" the Doctor shouted in frustration, as the terminals screen goes completely blank.

"All Library systems are permanently offline," the computer announces, "Sorry for any inconvenience. Shortly..."

"We need to stop this, we've got to save CAL!" Mr Lux suggests.

"What is it?" the Doctor turned to him, "What is CAL?"

Mr Lux sighed knowing he had no choice, "We need to get to the main computer, I'll show you."

"It's at the core of the planet."

Well, then," River goes into the centre of the room, "Let's go!" she uses her sonic on the symbol on the floor and it opened, "Gravity platform!"

"I bet we like you," the Doctor looked to her thinking about Ariana, with a slight smile.

"Oh, you do!" she winks at him.

They get onto the platform and descended to the planets core.

They all step on the platform and it starts to descend.

 **-Doctor Who-**

"You just... you just stay where I can see you. Right, you, you don't get out of my sight." Alice tells them not wanting to let them go.

"Is it bedtime?" Her daughter asked looking up at her worried mother.

Soon after asking this Alice is suddenly now in Jack and Monica's bedroom tucking them into their beds. "OK. That was lovely, wasn't it? That was a lovely bedtime. We had warm milk, and we watched cartoons, and then Mummy read you a lovely bedtime story." She recalled what they had done to get to here.

"Mummy, Jack and me, we're not real, are we?" Her daughter asked of her and Jack not existing.

"Of course you're real. You're as real as anything. Why d'you say that?" Alice replied honestly that they did going onto ask why they thought this, stroking the top of Monica's head loving.

"But, Mummy, sometimes, when you're not here, it's like we're not here." Jack replied back that they never felt truly real there when she wasn't looking.

"Even when you close your eyes, we just stop." Monica told her truthfully that it also happens.

"Well, Mummy promises to never close her eyes again." Alice swears she never do such a thing to them ever again. But it's soon after speaking they both have disappeared before her. "No! Please! No, please! No! No, no! NO!" She screamed in panic and grief.

 **-Doctor Who-**

"Autodestruct in 15 minutes."

"The Data Core!" the Doctor shouts over the alarm, computer and platform, "4,000 living minds, trapped inside it."

"Yeah, well they won't be living much longer, we're running out of time," River returned, soon as they stepped off the platform.

"Help me," a voice could be heard crying, "Please help me."

"What's that?" Anita looks for the source of the noise.

"Was that a child?" River asks.

"Computer's in sleep mode," the Doctor replied upon reaching the terminal pushing the keys, "I can't wake it up. I'm trying."

"Doctor, these readings!" River indicated to the reading on the screen.

"I know, you'd think it was... dreaming," he frowns as they gathered to have a look.

"It is dreaming..." Lux replies, "Of a normal life, and a lovely Dad, and of every book ever written."

"Computers don't dream," Anita points out in disbelief.

"Help me," the voice of a child cried out again, "Please help me."

"No," Lux replied sadly, "But little girls do."

He turned and pulled a lever, that opens a door to another room where a single Node is stationed. It turns to reveal a little girls face, the very one from they had seen from the screen.

"Please help me," the girl begs, "Please help me."

"Oh, my God!" River gasps in horror.

"It's the little girl," Anita exclaims in surprise, "The girl we saw in the computer."

"She's not in the computer," Lux responded, "In a way, she is the computer. The main command node. This is CAL."

"CAL is a child!" the Doctor's eyes widen, "A child hooked up to a mainframe? Why didn't you tell me this? I needed to know this!"

"Because she's family!" Lux shouts back, "CAL... Charlotte Abigail Lux. My grandfather's youngest daughter. She was dying, so he built her a library, and put her living mind inside, with a moon to watch over her, and all of human history to pass the time, any era to live in, any book to read. She loved books more than anything. He gave her them all. He asked only that she be left in peace. A secret, not a freak show."

"So you weren't protecting a patent, you were protecting her," the Doctor spoke quietly now understanding.

"This is only half a life, of course. But it's for ever."

"And then the shadows came," he nodded, figuring it out.

"Shadows," the girl spoke, "I have to... I have to save. Have to save..."

"And she saved them," the Doctor took a deep breath, "She saved everyone in the Library, folded them into her dreams and kept them safe."

"Then why didn't she tell us?" Anita asked wondering this.

"Because she's forgotten," he offered, "She's got over 4,000 living minds chatting away inside her head, it must be like... being... well, me."

"So what do we do?" River swallows, getting back to the matter at hand and composing herself.

"Autodestruct in ten minutes."

"Easy!" the Doctor shouted in excitement a idea having come to him, "We beam all the people out of the data core, the computer will reset and stop the countdown," then he saw a downside to it shaking his head, "Difficult, Charlotte doesn't have enough memory space left to make the transfer," he now smiled, "Easy! I'll hook myself up to the computer and she can borrow my memory space!"

"Difficult!" River looked at him voicing her concerns, "It'll kill you stone dead!"

"Yeah, it's easy to criticise," he rolled his eyes.

"It'll burn out both your hearts and don't think you'll regenerate!" River tried to argue her case with him and think this through. The last thing she would want was for Ariana to be on her own.

"I'll try my hardest not to die," he shrugged without a care, "Honestly, it's my main thing,"

"Doctor!" River shouts angrily at him, getting rather irritated.

"I'm right and this works!" he gave her a glare, "Shut up. Now listen, you and Luxy-boy, back up to the main Library. Prime any data cells you can find for maximum download, and before you say anything else, Professor, can I just mention in passing as your air, shut up!"

"I hate you sometimes!" she hollers.

"I know!" he counters, not really phased.

River glares at him, "She'll hate you too when she gets back!"

He stiffened on that coming to a realisation with wide eyes, if he didn't get Alice and Donna back. He would have fail them, he would fail Ariana.

"Mr Lux, with me!" River commands, "Anita, if he dies, I'll kill him!"

The two take leave, leaving Anita with the Doctor for company. She watched him seeing him think about his friends probably before he continued to type frantically.

"What about the Vashta Nerada?" Anita asked.

"These are their forests," the Doctor replies, "I'm gonna seal Charlotte inside her little world, take everybody else away. The shadows can swarm to their hearts' content."

"So you think they're just gonna let us go?"

"Best offer they're gonna get," he offered bitterly in reply.

"You're gonna make 'em an offer?"

"They'd better take it, cos right now, I'm finding it very hard to make any kind of offer at all," he comes to realise that Anita is now dead, turning to face her, "You know what..."

"I really liked Anita. She was brave, even when she was crying, and she never gave in. And you ate her," he pointed his sonic and cleared the visor now revealing the skeleton, "But I'm gonna let that pass," he tells the Vashta Nerada, "Just as long as you let them pass."

"How long have you known?"

"I counted the shadows," he informed, "You only have one now," he watches the neural relay blink, "She's nearly gone. Be kind."

"These are our forests," it returns, "We are not kind."

"I'm giving you back your forests, but you are giving me them," the Doctor threatens, "You are letting them go," he goes back to the terminal. Shadows reach out from the skeleton towards him.

"These are our forests. They are our meat."

"Don't play games with me!" he seethed, "You just killed someone I liked, that is not a safe place to stand. I'm the Doctor and you're in the biggest library in the universe. Look me up."

After a couple of seconds the shadows withdraw, "You have one day."

The suit collapsed as River came back, "Anita!"

"I'm sorry, she's been dead a while now," he informed her, "I told you to go!"

"Lux can manage without me," River tells him, trending lightly with purpose, "But you can't."

Without warning, she knocked him out hard with punch and he dropped to the floor.


	18. Forest of the Dead Final

Disclaimer: Doctor Who is the BBC's and Alice Noble and Ariana belong to me.

The Doctor started to slowly come around with a slight pain in his face and winces, he feels something metal around his wrists and looks to find he's handcuffed to a pilar that is situated a few feet from River who is in a chair, connecting wires to it.

"Autodestruct in two minutes," the computer announced, alerting him to how long he'd been unconscious.

The Doctor sees what River is doing, "Oh, no, no, no, no, come on, what are you doing? That's my job!"

"Oh, and I'm not allowed to have a career, I suppose?"

"Why am I handcuffed?" he asked, struggling to get free of them "Why do you even have handcuffs?"

"Spoilers!" she smirks.

"This is not a joke, stop this now, this is gonna kill you! I'd have a chance, you don't have any."

"You wouldn't have a chance, and neither do I," she argues with him firmly that he would of died regardless, "Besides you can't leave Ariana on her own like that," she swallows harshly at the thought, "I'm timing it for the end of the countdown, there'll be a blip in the command flow. That way it should improve our chances of a clean download."

"River! Please! No!"

"Funny thing is, this means you both always known how I was going to die," she now cried, tears running down her face, "All the time we've been together, you knew I was coming here. The last time I saw you, the real you, the future you, I mean..." she sniffs, "You turned up on my doorstep, with a new haircut and a suit and for once Ari wore a dress if all things. You both took me to Darillium to see the singing towers with..." she took a deep breath as she remembers that very night, "Oh, what a night that was! The towers sang, Ari cried while you held her."

"Autodestuct in two minutes."

"You both wouldn't tell me why, but I suppose you knew it was time. My time. Time to come to the Library. Ari had stolen your screwdriver and gave it to me...that should've been a clue," she looked to the sonics on the ground placed on her journal. The Doctor struggled to reach out for them, but are just too far.

"The stories you used to tell me about your adventures with your companions..." she trails off, before anymore is said, "There's only one story you would never tell... and I get it now because it's about the Library, this Library."

He stared at her in shock.

"It's fine really," she went on, "You were ok with me telling you," she swallowed, "You told me that was when you fell for Alice. What a remarkable young woman she was. That 'a brilliant woman' told you that once and it stayed with you," she sniffs, "That woman who told you that was me."

"River I..." he tried to speak but couldn't.

"It's alright Doctor move on," she told him, "Show Alice or Ari how you much you care once she returns," she sniffs, "Don't push her away, your feelings for her you can't deny them," she gave a weak smile, "Promise me that you'll love each other until the end of your days."

He nods in understanding, breath caught in his throat stunned by River's words. But he couldn't let her do this sacrifice her life for him.

"Autodestruct in one minute."

Again he tried in a violent struggle, to reach out for one of the screwdrivers as far his fingers could reach. But it was no use

"But there's nothing you can do now," she called.

"You can let me do this!"

"If you die here, it'll mean I've never met you. Alice or Ari...she'll be alone and broken."

There is something in her eyes that said she'd witnessed Ari like that. He knew that was impossible, mentioning now that their both still alive in the near future, speaking of Ari stealing his screwdriver, how could she know that Ari will suffer should her Bonded die?

"Time can be rewritten," the Time Lord tried to argue his case.

"Not those times," she warns, "Not one line! Don't you dare!" she takes a shuddering breath, "It's ok. It's ok, it's not over for you, either of you. You'll see me again. You've got all of that to come. You and Ariana and me, time and space. You watch us run!"

A tear cascaded down her cheek but remained determined with a smile upon her face.

"River, you know mine and Ari's names!" he shouted wanting to know one last thing.

"Autodestruct in ten..."

"You whispered mine and Ari's names in my ear."

"...nine, eight, seven..."

"There's only one reason we would ever tell anyone our real names. There's only one time we could..."

"Hush, now!" River tenderly smiled through her tears, "Spoilers..."

"...three, two, one..."

River put the two plugs of cables together, the Doctor shielding himself from the blinding white light hiding her completely.

-Doctor Who-

Alice is now sitting on the stairs crying and now understanding everything around her wasn't real even the man she loved probably isn't either, he came rushing in through the front door closing it.

"Alice? What's happening?" John asked coming to meet her half way, as she got up coming down the stairs to him.

"I don't know, but it's not real! Nothing here is real. The whole world, everything, none of it's real." Alice explained, tears running down her face grasping tightly onto the arms of John's tweed jacket.

"Am I real?" John asked cupping her face wiping the tears away with his thumbs. The room now filled with a white light that got stronger and stronger around them.

"Of course you're real, I know you're real. Oh, God, oh, God, I hope you're real..." She let go of his arms reaching out to touch his face, looking up into his caring and wise hazel green eyes. Alice is suddenly pulled away from John as he drifts away from her and disappears in the light.

"I'll find you! I promise you, I'll find you!" she makes a promise to look for him. But she never would.

-Doctor Who-

The Doctor just sat there in the computer core, still handcuffed to the pilar, his eyes never leave the very spot River had sat, she's gone. His thoughts turn to Ariana and Alice as well...all the things River had said and implied about him, Ari and her. It told him that maybe there was hope Ariana and River wouldn't hate each other as he once thought.

Both the sisters suddenly appeared in The Library along with 4,022 people that had been saved in the hard drive coming back across the entire planet. But what they didn't know that it came at a cost of the life of River Song to bring all of them back.

Alice and Donna made their way back through The Library to find the Doctor. They had talked about what they'd experienced as they walked back, being mindful of the shadows along the way. But it was for the youngest Noble that she couldn't remember the face of the young man she'd been with all that time.

Upon reaching the large reception area they spot the Doctor leaning against one of the large bookshelves, Alice couldn't help but notice that he looked a little down on himself. "Doctor!" She called out catching his attention, running towards him Donna not far behind her.

"Alice!" The Doctor opened his arms wide for her to run into, he wrapped his arms around her tightly lifting her up off the ground, before putting her back down and kissing the top of her head affectionately. He then saw Donna who he hugs as well.

She and Alice told the Doctor of what they had experienced in the other reality. Which ended up with him suggesting she go and find the man she met there.

"Any luck?" Alice asked, as Donna came back a couple of minutes later looking down on her luck on ever finding the man.

"There wasn't even anyone called Lee in the Library that day." She explained that she had asked for him but looked to the Doctor and asked of the man ever existing. "Suppose he could have had a different name out here, but let's be honest, he wasn't real, was he?"

"Maybe not." He replied rather unsure, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

"I made up the perfect man. Gorgeous, adores me, and hardly able to speak a word. What's that say about me?" She asked how she could if come up with such a man.

"Everything." The Time Lord replied lost in his own thoughts at that moment not paying attention in the slightest. Which in return Donna glares at him with an offended look on her face.

"Sorry, did I say everything? I meant to say 'nothing'. I was aiming for 'nothing', I accidentally said 'everything'." He tried to cover up what had just been in said in nervous ramble which Alice shouldn't find adorable, even though what he had just replied to Donna was rather rude.

"What about you? Are you all right?" Donna checked on how he is been seeing sadness in his eyes. Alice could see it too, probably something to do with River Song who he explained to them died saving them but had never gone into too much detail on how it came about. She could tell that it must have been something very painful for him to have witnessed.

"I'm always all right," the Doctor replied with a sniff and a shrug of his shoulders, trying act like he was fine, when he wasn't.

"Is 'all right' special Time Lord code for... 'really not all right at all'?" Alice asked in concern, put her hand on his arm and gave it a squeeze getting the Doctor to look at the sisters knowing that he wasn't fooling them so easily.

"Why?" He asked looking at the both of them seeing that they cared about his wellbeing.

"Because we're 'all right', too." She replied with a sad smile.

They look at each other, understanding each other's sorrow perfectly. The Doctor now put his arms the sisters shoulders, Alice let's herself lean close into side slightly having missed the comfort. Keeping them close, he lead them away, "Come on."

Out the doors they went, not seeing the people watching them near by, a certain Time Lord along with his wife. It was with not knowing that the Doctor had been with Ariana all along past and future just to save her. Just to show much he cared.

-Doctor Who-

The three travellers approached the balcony, the Doctor placed River's TARDIS styled journal upon it .

"Your friend... Professor Song... She knew you and Alice or Ariana in the future, but she didn't know me. What happens to me? Because when she heard my name, the way she looked at me..." Donna wonders aloud about the many unexplained things the woman had talked about, including the Doctor and her sister. But the one thing that pained her the most. Was she even part of their lives in the future?

"Donna... This is her diary. Our future," the Doctor explained, briefly looking to the young woman beside him, "I could look you up. What do you think? Shall we peek at the end?" He offered in suggestion being cheeky about it.

"Spoilers, right Doctor?" Alice asked knowingly, with a smile that it wasn't best to find out their future. She thought it would be best to live for what's to come.

"Right," he agreed, returning a similar smile.

But they now all look at each other weakness coming through on wanting to open the book, they hold back resisting themselves from the temptation. The Doctor puts River's sonic atop the book and they turn to leave.

"Come on. The next chapter's this way," he offered his hands out to them, leading them away. But he stopped halfway up the staircase, letting their hands go ran back down to the balcony and picked up the sonic that he'd been questioning her about.

"Why? Why would Ari give her my screwdriver? Why would she do that? Thing is, future you had years to think about it, all those years to think of a way to save her, and what she did was give her my old screwdriver! Why would she do that?" The Time Lord asked not only himself but Alice also, trying to understand looking it over.

He opened a part of it to reveal green lights behind, like those of the neural relay. "Oh! Oh! Oh, look at that! Future you, she's very good!" he compliments her future self

"What have I done?" Alice asked before seeing the familiar green lights like on the neural relays that had been on the helmets and realises what her future self has done.

"What has she done?" Donna now asked trying to understand what was going on.

"She's, saved her!" The Doctor replied with glee, pulling Alice to his side, kissing her atop of her head affectionately in excitement, making the young woman blush. Afterwards he pulls away from her, grabbing hold of her hand as they both ran together through The Library towards the computer core.

"Stay with us! You can do it, stay with us! Come on, you, me and Ari one last run! Sorry, River, shortcut!" The Doctor pointed disabled the gravity platform in the floor making it drop suddenly. And sees Alice isn't so keen on the idea falling several feet. "Sorry Alice!" He apologised in advance, she wrapped her arms around his waist gripping tightly with her eyes closed as they now fell.

"River said we could open the doors with the click of our fingers." The Doctor told Alice something the woman had told him they could do on command, as they walked back hand in hand towards the TARDIS.

"You don't think that's possible do you?" She asked looking the Police Box over with curiosity as they stood before it.

"There's only one way to find out." He suggests they give it a try, letting each other's hands go. They both raise their arms and click their fingers, the doors of the TARDIS swing open before them revealing Donna and smile knowing that River wasn't wrong.

The Doctor offered his hand out to Alice as they walked into the ship and let their hands go once again looking to the doors as they raised their hands and clicked their fingers doors closing shut for them. And he couldn't help feel that Ari gave Alice the help she needed to with those doors and was grateful.

Because from that moment onwards the Bonding process had started and he wasn't going to stop loving her no matter what was thrown their way. As River made him to promise before she died: 'please, love her and cherish her until the end of your days'.

And that's what he would do.


	19. Forest Of The Dead Alternate Ending

**Forest of the Dead Alternate Ending**

Both the sisters suddenly appeared in The Library along with 4,022 people that had been saved in the hard drive coming back across the entire planet. But what they didn't know that it came at a cost of the life of River Song to bring all of them back.

Alice and Donna made their way back through The Library to find the Doctor. They had talked about what they'd experienced as they walked back, being mindful of the shadows along the way. But it was for the youngest Noble that she couldn't remember the face of the young man she'd been with all that time.

Upon reaching the large reception area they spot the Doctor leaning against one of the large bookshelves, Alice couldn't help but notice that he looked a little down on himself. "Doctor!" She called out catching his attention, running towards him Donna not far behind her.

"Alice!" The Doctor opened his arms wide for her to run into, he wrapped his arms around her tightly lifting her up off the ground, before putting her back down and kissing the top of her head affectionately. He then saw Donna who he hugs as well.

She and Alice told the Doctor of what they had experienced in the other reality. Which ended up with him suggesting she go and find the man she met there.

"So, did you meet anyone?" the Doctor asked with a sideways glance trying to come off casual about it.

"Yeah, I did," Alice nodded, "We got married and had a couple of kids," she gave him a gentle nudge in the side with a slight laugh, "Not jealous are we Doctor?"

"No, no, I'm not jealous," he tries to deny it, "Don't you want to go and look for him?" he suggested as he nods his head out in to crowded room of people, not trying to be hurt about it.

"No, I can't remember what he even looks like, let alone his name," Alice shook her head and took a deep breath looking back over the crowd of people, leaned against the bookshelf glances to him briefly, _'Besides there's only one person I've got on my mind and that's you,'_ was something she wishes to say.

"You don't remember a thing about him?" he asked out of curiosity.

"Not one," she shook her head.

"Why don't you go and wait by the balcony Donna and I will meet you there in a bit once she comes back," the Doctor suggested to Alice wanting the jealous feeling in the pit of his stomach about the man she had met to go away.

"Sure you're alright?" she pushed herself off the shelf and tilted her head at him with concern.

"Yeah, I'm good," he replied convincingly with a shrug and clearing his throat, "Now go we'll be along in a bit."

"Ok, mister," she squeezed his arm in with a kind smile, before turning to leave.

Alice walked down the staircase towards the balcony and looked out across the city of books. Somehow she now saw it differently from before when her eyes first latched onto it. This was once a place of tranquility, to read until your hearts content and fill up your head with ideas, dreams and knowledge until you burst. But now it would never be opened again, nobody to walk amongst the Library's bookshelves, to hear the occasional cough or sneeze and a old librarian to hush them bossily.

Now coming up to the balcony, a young man in a tweed jacket was looking out across the city his back to Alice. It looked as if he was waiting for someone and he did look rather out of place, as he wasn't like the others dressed back at reception. But there's an aura coming off of him, one that felt oddly familiar yet comforting to her.

"You alright?" Alice asked in concern, as she went down the last few steps and approached him.

"I'm fine," he returned convincingly and turned to meet her gaze, his eyes were lovely shade of hazel green but looked wiser beyond his years. The front of his attire, bore a navy blue bow-tie and suspenders with a matching pale blue shirt. But she didn't seem convinced, as the colour seemed to reflect his mood.

"Really?" she raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "Because you look as though you've lost someone or you've really ticked them off."

"A bit of both actually," he returned with a shrug, "I abandoned a friend of mine that I care deeply for, because I thought it was...for the best," he confessed his problem with a sigh, "This time I think I've lost them for good."

"How I can you be so sure that they won't take you back?" she asked feeling a little sorry for the man, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder which he didn't seem to mind, "I mean if someone I cared for did that to me, I would be angry at them sure. But if you share a really special connection with that person, it would take time and effort to win them back. All I have to say to you is mate, take one step at a time give each other some breathing room to gain that trust again."

"You're one wise woman, you know that?" he complimented her, "Whoever you care for they must be pretty special."

"Yeah, he really is," she blushed at the thought of him.

"Thanks for the advice..." he held out his hand.

"Alice," she took his hand and felt as though it belonged their, but let go straight away.

"Alice," her name slid off his tongue so easily as if he's said it many times before, "I best be off got a lot of making up to do," he turned to start jogging up the stairs.

"You never told me your name," she looked after him as he stopped halfway.

"I think you already do Alice," he gave off in a rather cryptic reply, "Let's hope you'll forgive me," he muttered to himself disappearing around the corner. The young Noble stared after him feeling rather confused, before the Doctor turned up along with her sister.


	20. Drunken Confessions

**Drunken Confessions**

It had been a few days since the Library and there was complete utter silence, the TARDIS engines were the only thing that could be heard throughout the corridors. Only that it was now about to be completely broken, by a certain Time Lord who was for the first time in his long life and regardless of the rules, was drinking away his pain and sorrow.

On the other hand a certain young Noble is awoken by the sound of glass being thrown against a wall and shattering loudly, she only knew that it could be coming from the kitchen which wasn't far from her bedroom. Then there was just nothing but more glass being broken, followed by angry shouting and screaming. That could only be the Doctor's

Alice put on her slippers quickly, charged out of her room towards the kitchen. Once she had got there the noise had stopped, the sight that greeted her eyes as she entered the kitchen. Millions upon millions shards of glass scattered the blue tiled floor, making it look like a shimmering mosaic ocean. Many of the kitchen cabinets are opened, one of them hanging off it's hinges.

The Doctor was sitting upon the floor leaning against a cupboard, in his blue suit trousers and white shirt with his floral red tie askew staring emotionlessly at the opposite wall, tear tracks staining his face. His hands were covered in cuts and scrapes. Alice went to grab the first aid kit that was stashed under the sink and kneeled beside him where it was void of any glass

"Oh, Doctor," she took his hand, cradling it gently and glanced at him with concern, "You've got yourself into a right state."

"III c-can nevver doo anything right," the Doctor slurred miserably, Alice smelling the alcohol on his breath as he spoke.

"Don't say that," she shook her head at him not wanting to hear it, starting to wipe his cuts with antiseptic wipes.

"But it's true Alice, anyone that's ever met me something always bad happens to them," the Time Lord went on without a care, "It's like I cause nothing but pain and destruction everywhere I go. And it's always my fault."

Alice didn't want him talking about himself like this, so full of self pity and regret. She got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach this had something to do with River Song, "This is about River isn't it?" she asked, knowing he never gave much away on what happened that day she had died.

"Alice, she sacrificed herself for the data core…and I couldn't stop her," the Doctor confessed honestly, words spilling out, made the young woman stop cleaning his other hand.

"Doctor, please tell me you weren't going to do what I think you planned on doing?" she understood what he was saying instantly, dropping his hand in shock. Now discovering that the Doctor had planned on using himself for the Library's computer core and now gripped his shoulder hard, "Doctor, look me in the eye and tell me you didn't try to do that."

He now lifted his head gazing into back into Alice eyes who now saw the truth, she looked straight down at her legs not even wanting to look at him anymore, thinking how he could be so selfish, "Did you even think of what would happen to me or Donna if you didn't come back, she looked up at him tears threatening to spill down her rosy cheeks, "Did you not think in that big bloody head of yours about the consequences!" she now stood to her feet.

"Alice…" he tried to stop her to explain himself but couldn't only to get interrupted.

"You'll be dead right now that's what!" she answered for him, tears flowing down her cheeks. It broke his hearts to see Alice like this, that he'd lied to her.

"I did think about it Alice and River made me see sense!" he argued getting up onto his feet struggling slightly now coming to stand before her now feeling rather sober.

"About what?!" she glared back at him moodily.

"That I can't just leave the woman I love behind!" he bursts out in confession knowing he had to stick to his guns and tell Alice how he feels about her before it was too late.

"T-the w-woman who now?" Alice stutters, checking to see she just wasn't hearing things, eyes wide as saucers.

"The woman I love," he repeated a smile on his face cupping her cheek making her look up at him and lean into his touch, "I love you."

Not wanting to deny herself to her feelings, foreheads their noses brushing and warm breath ghosting on the Doctor's skin as she spoke and pulled her closer into him, "I love you too."

The tension that had been building up between them for such a long time, snapped like an elastic band. Alice's hands wind themselves up into his hair as they kissed passionately, as his hands travelled down to her hips and they continued kissing for couple more seconds. Breaking apart, they now catch their breath for air foreheads pressed together, grinning happily at each other.

Alice now yawns remembering how tired she was resting her head against the Doctor's shoulder, "Think we better get you to bed young lady," he kissed her forehead, guided them out the kitchen arm around her waist, his fingers being rather distracting against her slightly bear hip.

Having gotten into her bedroom there's that tension again between them, "Get some sleep alright," he kissed her lightly on the lips hand still on her waist and when he pulled away he saw a want in her eyes, "I thought you were tired?"

"No, I don't think that I am anymore," her hands went around the Doctor's neck and she leaned up to kiss him sweetly. Like that the tension broke and they moved backwards towards her bed, tumbling backwards. Well then one thing lead to another.

The next morning, well Alice woke up with a massive grin on her face knowing that what happened last night wasn't a dream despite everything that went down. But something beautiful had come out of it. Love.


	21. Midnight Sneak Peak

It was later that morning after the night before that Alice now stood in the kitchen cleared of glass, wearing nothing but the Doctor's white shirt, her pyjama shorts and a smile on her face as she made coffee. Even though she knew they had done this all the wrong way around. The Doctor had explained to her that they now had a special connection together that could never be broken. Alice could sense that the Time Lady within her locket always had strong feelings of love for him but never got the chance to but now part of her had.

A pair of familiar arms wrapping around her waist from behind brought her back to reality, "Well, good morning Miss Noble," he whispered seductively, kissing the side of her neck where there was a bruise, now wearing a t-shirt and pyjama bottoms as he pressed against her.

"Morning," Alice hummed in content and turned her body to greet his solid warmth, wrapping her arms around his neck bringing his lips to hers before there's distant slumped footsteps approaching the kitchen.

"Donna, I'm not ready for her to find out about us yet!" Alice broke apart from him in a panicked whisper.

"She'll figure it out anyway, your wearing my shirt and have a love bite on your neck," he gestured to her disheveled appearance, being rather at ease about the whole situation, "We might as well admit defeat," he brings Alice into a loving hug, wrapping his arms around her protectively.

"Oh, God she's gonna give you 'the speech'," Alice moans in complaint, hiding her face in the Doctor's chest, knowing there's no escaping it.

"'The speech'?" he asked gulping slightly, not liking the sound of it a hand running through Alice's dark fiery red locks as he held her close.

"The speech Donna has given to every single guy I've ever dated that made most of them run for the hills," Alice looking up at him feeling slightly terrified, "Just a fair warning Doc be prepared."

"Oh, I will be Al it's just…" he reassured her but didn't sound so sure of himself.

"What?" she looked up him.

"Sometimes your sister just terrifies me," the Doctor confessed honestly, kissing Alice's forehead affectionately and then resting his head on top of hers.

"That she does," she returned with small laugh, arms now wrapping around his waist, her ear against his chest listening to his hearts beating in content

It's now they both looked up in the direction of the doorway as Donna entered the kitchen half asleep. Their waiting what seems like forever for the very moment that she now turns to register them holding each other. What Donna sees before her wakes her up instantly, mouth hanging open. Taking in not only the appearance of Alice wearing the Doctor's shirt, but how happy they both looked together.

"When did this happen?" she gestured between the pair eyebrows raised.

"Um, last night actually," the Time Lord replied truthfully, as they both faced her and he put his arm around her waist, being protective keeping her close.

"Good," she simply returned with a smug smile and nothing more, putting the kettle on as Alice waited for the inevitable and dreaded speech that never came for the Doctor.

"Your fine with this then?" Alice asked, pointing between her and the Doctor. "Your not going to even bother scaring the living daylights out of him."

"No, I don't think he needs it's I'm just happy that you've finally got your heads and hearts in the right place that's all," she smiled at them both lovingly, as the couple let out internal sigh of relief.

-Doctor Who-

Many hours later the Doctor and Alice are on a luxury planet called Midnight, minus Donna who was at the spa not wanting to be a third wheel in her little sisters adventure with the Time Lord.

"I said, no!" Donna answered sounding irate through the loudspeaker on a mobile phone, "Alice why did you let him call me?"

"Donna, I tried but he wouldn't accept it!" Alice called to her with annoyance, as she saw the Time Lord make a face.

"Sapphire waterfall," he started to make another pitch to her, "It's a waterfall made of sapphires! This enormous jewel, size of a glacier, reaches the Cliffs of Oblivion, and then shatters into sapphires at the edge. They fall 100,000 feet into a crystal ravine."

"I bet you say that to all the girls," Alice hears Donna tease him, glancing over at her with a look and slightly pink cheeks.

"Well, your sister is the only girl that I describe stuff in more detail to," the Doctor gave the young Noble a smirk, that caused her to blush. "She's beautiful as that glittering waterfall," well she was, seeing as she was wearing glittery eyeshadow, nail polish and sequin covered Converse.

"Doctor, stop it," Alice blushed again whacking him playfully on the arm.

"Why should I? Your gorgeous," he returned cheekily putting his arm around the young woman's shoulders to pull her close and Alice could imagine Donna cringing on the other side of the phone. "Oh, come on! They're boarding now! It's no fun if we see it on our own. Four hours, that's all it takes."

"No, that's four hours there and four hours back, it's like a school trip. I'd rather go sunbathing. Besides, Al is with you, don't need me as well."

"I said so didn't I!" Alice exclaimed triumphantly, receiving a poke from the Time Lord in her side. She only poked her tongue out back at him in return.

"Thanks," Donna got his attention again.

"You be careful," he warned her, "That's Xtonic sunlight."

"Oh, I'm safe," Donna assured it's safe, "It says in the brochure this glass is fifteen feet thick."

The Doctor nodded, "All right, I give up," he continued, "Alice and I will be back for dinner, we'll try that anti-gravity restaurant. With bibs."

"That's a date," Donna paused realising what she said, "Well, not a date for us," she groaned in disbelief, "Oh, you know what I mean. Oh get off!"

"See you later, Don," Alice gave an awkward laugh.

"Oi! You be careful! All right?" Donna now warned, "Look after my sister and don't get into any trouble."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he kissed the top of Alice's head affectionately, "Besides, taking a big space truck with a bunch of strangers across a diamond planet called Midnight? What could possibly go wrong?"

"Anything can knowing you," the young Noble muttered to herself.

He ended the call, looked down at Alice and grabbed her hand, "Come on, allons'y!"

-Doctor Who-

Now sitting in the first few front rows, Alice glanced out the window briefly inspecting her reflection, "I'm now starting to think the glittery eyeshadow was a bad idea," she complained, nose scrunching up in that cute way the Doctor loved.

"Alice, you'd look beautiful without makeup and I wouldn't care," he told her with a honest compliment, pecking her cheek lovingly.

As the dark-skinned hostess made her way through the compartment, now stopping at a blonde woman. "Complimentary juice pack and complimentary..."

"Just the headphones, please," she replied instantly, cutting off the hostess before she said anymore.

The hostess passed them over to her, "There you go."

Alice glanced briefly at the blonde for a couple more seconds, before picking up the fashion magazine that had been resting on her lap. She had brought it from the TARDIS for a bit of reading which she never gets the chance to do these days. The hostess has now showed up at the pairs side.

She moves to the Doctor and starts to hand him things. "That's the headphones for Channels 1 to 36; modem link for 3D vidgames; complimentary earplugs; complimentary slippers; complimentary juice pack; and complimentary peanuts."

"Peanuts, lovely!" Alice shrilled happily, not really bothered about the other freebies and opening up the packet. She started to munch on them in content just as the hostess finished.

"I must warn you some products may contain nuts."

"That'll be the peanuts," the Doctor joked.

As the young Noble took a sigh of embarrassment and shook her head. "Oh, God."

The hostess looked at him as if he'd grown an extra head. But she just shrugged it off. "I hope you and your girlfriend enjoy your trip."

There was no protesting on the subject seeing as they were together intertwined their fingers together and the Doctor grinning at the hostess.

"Oh, we can't wait! Allons-y!"

The hostess only then but frowned in confusion at him her expression blank. "I'm sorry?"

"It's French for 'let's go!'"

"Fascinating," the hostess dryly returned, only for Alice to giggle uncontrollably only to stop instantly the woman looked at her wondering what was funny.

"Sorry," Alice apologised to the hostess calming herself down. "It was just the way you said it that's all. Many people don't get him sometimes you see, except for me though I get him."

She nodded understanding what the young woman was trying to get across. As she was about to take her leave Alice stopped her, wanting to know her name and not just know her as 'the hostess' for the rest of the journey.

"Can I ask what your name is?"

Turning her head to look at the red head a smile came to her face after the question. It was like nobody had even asked her name before.

"Monica." She simply responded, with that same smile.

Which Alice returned in kindnesses and Monica turned away knowing she's probably made her day. Who continued on to the row behind them that sat an middle aged man and young African woman.

"You're an utter embarrassment sometimes," Alice comments under her breath, opening the magazine that had been abandoned and began to read it.

"How am I embarrassing?" the Time Lord turned to his other half rather offended.

"Oh 'that'll be the peanuts' comes to mind," she mocked him, "I swear your jokes are more corny than my dad's used to be."

"Come on Ally," he jested with a poke in the side, trying to get a rise out of her, "You love me for it really. You know you can't resist my charms."


	22. Midnight Part 1

It was later that morning after the night before that Alice now stood in the kitchen cleared of glass, wearing nothing but the Doctor's white shirt, her pyjama shorts and a smile on her face as she made coffee. Even though she knew they had done this all the wrong way around. The Doctor had explained to her that they now had a special connection together that could never be broken. Alice could sense that the Time Lady within her locket always had strong feelings of love for him but never got the chance to but now part of her had.

A pair of familiar arms wrapping around her waist from behind brought her back to reality, "Well, good morning Miss Noble," he whispered seductively, kissing the side of her neck where there was a bruise, now wearing a t-shirt and pyjama bottoms as he pressed against her.

"Morning," Alice hummed in content and turned her body to greet his solid warmth, wrapping her arms around his neck bringing his lips to hers before there's distant slumped footsteps approaching the kitchen.

"Donna, I'm not ready for her to find out about us yet!" Alice broke apart from him in a panicked whisper.

"She'll figure it out anyway, your wearing my shirt and have a love bite on your neck," he gestured to her disheveled appearance, being rather at ease about the whole situation, "We might as well admit defeat," he brings Alice into a loving hug, wrapping his arms around her protectively.

"Oh, God she's gonna give you 'the speech'," Alice moans in complaint, hiding her face in the Doctor's chest, knowing there's no escaping it.

"'The speech'?" he asked gulping slightly, not liking the sound of it a hand combing through Alice's ash blonde locks as he held her close.

"The speech Donna has given to every single guy I've ever dated that made most of them run for the hills," Alice looking up at him feeling slightly terrified, "Just a fair warning Doc be prepared."

"Oh, I will be Ally it's just..." he reassured her but didn't sound so sure of himself.

"What?" she looked up him.

"Sometimes your sister just terrifies me," the Doctor confessed honestly, kissing Alice's forehead affectionately and then resting his head on top of hers.

"That she does," she returned with small laugh, arms now wrapping around his waist, her ear against his chest listening to his hearts beating in content

It's now they both looked up in the direction of the doorway as Donna entered the kitchen half asleep. Their waiting what seems like forever for the very moment that she now turns to register them holding each other. What Donna sees before her wakes her up instantly, mouth hanging open. Taking in not only the appearance of Alice wearing the Doctor's shirt, but how happy they both looked together.

"When did this happen?" she gestured between the pair eyebrows raised.

"Um, last night actually," the Time Lord replied truthfully, as they both faced her and he put his arm around her waist, being protective keeping her close.

"Good," she simply returned with a smug smile and nothing more, putting the kettle on as Alice waited for the inevitable and dreaded speech that never came for the Doctor.

"Your fine with this then?" Alice asked, pointing between her and the Doctor. "Your not going to even bother scaring the living daylights out of him."

"No, I don't think he needs it's I'm just happy that you've finally got your heads and hearts in the right place that's all," she smiled at them both lovingly, as the couple let out internal sigh of relief.

 **-Doctor Who-**

Many hours later the Doctor and Alice are on a luxury planet called Midnight, minus Donna who was at the spa not wanting to be a third wheel in her little sisters adventure with the Time Lord.

"I said, no!" Donna answered sounding irate through the loudspeaker on a mobile phone, "Alice why did you let him call me?"

"Donna, I tried but he wouldn't accept it!" Alice called to her with annoyance, as she saw the Time Lord make a face.

"Sapphire waterfall," he started to make another pitch to her, "It's a waterfall made of sapphires! This enormous jewel, size of a glacier, reaches the Cliffs of Oblivion, and then shatters into sapphires at the edge. They fall 100,000 feet into a crystal ravine."

"I bet you say that to all the girls," Alice hears Donna tease him, glancing over at her with a look and slightly pink cheeks.

"Well, your sister is the only girl that I describe stuff in more detail to," the Doctor gave the young Noble a smirk, that caused her to blush. "She's beautiful as that glittering waterfall," well she was, seeing as she was wearing glittery eyeshadow, nail polish and sequin covered Converse.

"Doctor, stop it," Alice blushed again whacking him playfully on the arm.

"Why should I? Your gorgeous," he returned cheekily putting his arm around the young woman's shoulders to pull her close and Alice could imagine Donna cringing on the other side of the phone. "Oh, come on! They're boarding now! It's no fun if we see it on our own. Four hours, that's all it takes."

"No, that's four hours there and four hours back, it's like a school trip. I'd rather go sunbathing. Besides, Ally is with you, don't need me as well."

"I said so didn't I!" Alice exclaimed triumphantly, receiving a poke from the Time Lord in her side. She only poked her tongue out back at him in return.

"Thanks," Donna got his attention again.

"You be careful," he warned her, "That's Xtonic sunlight."

"Oh, I'm safe," Donna assured it's safe, "It says in the brochure this glass is fifteen feet thick."

The Doctor nodded, "All right, I give up," he continued, "Alice and I will be back for dinner, we'll try that anti-gravity restaurant. With bibs."

"That's a date," Donna paused realising what she said, "Well, not a date for us," she groaned in disbelief, "Oh, you know what I mean. Oh get off!"

"See you later, Don," Alice gave an awkward laugh.

"Oi! You be careful! All right?" Donna now warned, "Look after my sister and don't get into any trouble."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he kissed the top of Alice's head affectionately, "Besides, taking a big space truck with a bunch of strangers across a diamond planet called Midnight? What could possibly go wrong?"

"Anything can knowing you," the young Noble muttered to herself.

He ended the call, looked down at Alice and grabbed her hand, "Come on, allons'y!"

 **-Doctor Who-**

Now sitting in the first few front rows, Alice glanced out the window briefly inspecting her reflection, "I'm now starting to think the glittery eyeshadow was a bad idea," she complained, nose scrunching up in that cute way the Doctor loved.

"Alice, you'd look beautiful without makeup and I wouldn't care," he told her with a honest compliment, pecking her cheek lovingly.

As the dark-skinned hostess made her way through the compartment, now stopping at a blonde woman. "Complimentary juice pack and complimentary..."

"Just the headphones, please," she replied instantly, cutting off the hostess before she said anymore.

The hostess passed them over to her, "There you go."

Alice glanced briefly at the blonde for a couple more seconds, before picking up the fashion magazine that had been resting on her lap. She had brought it from the TARDIS for a bit of reading which she never gets the chance to do these days. The hostess has now showed up at the pairs side.

She moves to the Doctor and starts to hand him things. "That's the headphones for Channels 1 to 36; modem link for 3D vidgames; complimentary earplugs; complimentary slippers; complimentary juice pack; and complimentary peanuts."

"Peanuts, lovely!" Alice shrilled happily, not really bothered about the other freebies and opening up the packet. She started to munch on them in content just as the hostess finished.

"I must warn you some products may contain nuts."

"That'll be the peanuts," the Doctor joked.

As the young Noble took a sigh of embarrassment and shook her head. "Oh, God."

The hostess looked at him as if he'd grown an extra head. But she just shrugged it off. "I hope you and your girlfriend enjoy your trip."

There was no protesting on the subject seeing as they were together intertwined their fingers together and the Doctor grinning at the hostess.

"Oh, we can't wait! Allons-y!"

The hostess only then but frowned in confusion at him her expression blank. "I'm sorry?"

"It's French for 'let's go!'"

"Fascinating," the hostess dryly returned, only for Alice to giggle uncontrollably only to stop instantly the woman looked at her wondering what was funny.

"Sorry," Alice apologised to the hostess calming herself down. "It was just the way you said it that's all. Many people don't get him sometimes you see, except for me though I get him."

She nodded understanding what the young woman was trying to get across. As she was about to take her leave Alice stopped her, wanting to know her name and not just know her as 'the hostess' for the rest of the journey.

"Can I ask what your name is?"

Turning her head to look at the red head a smile came to her face after the question. It was like nobody had even asked her name before.

"Monica." She simply responded, with that same smile.

Which Alice returned in kindnesses and Monica turned away knowing she's probably made her day. Who continued on to the row behind them that sat an middle aged man and young African woman.

"You're an utter embarrassment sometimes," Alice comments under her breath, opening the magazine that had been abandoned and began to read it.

"How am I embarrassing?" the Time Lord turned to his other half rather offended.

"Oh 'that'll be the peanuts' comes to mind," she mocked him, "I swear your jokes are more corny than my dad's used to be."

"Come on Ally," he jested with a poke in the side, trying to get a rise out of her, "You love me for it really. You know you can't resist my charms."

"I never can mister because I love you too much," she whispered softly kissing him on the lips.

"Headphones for channels 1-36..."

The man stopped Monica before she could even continue giving her a bright friendly smile. "Oh no, thank you, not for us!"

"Earplugs, please." The young African politely asked of Monica, now handing one to the woman and the other to the man.

"There you go." After that, she headed to the next person whilst the man turned back to the young woman.

"They call it a sapphire waterfall, but it's no such thing, sapphire's an aluminium oxide, but the glacier is just a compound silica with iron pigmentation!" he raved in excitement with her nodding along listening intently.

"Here I was thinking you actually convinced me to see a Sapphire Waterfall," Alice mumbled as she pouted in disappointment to the Time Lord returning to her magazine, flipping it to the next page. "Donna was right this is going to be as fun a school trip." She muttered annoyingly to herself.

She doesn't get a response from him, being rather occupied listening to the people currently with Monica. Of course Alice was listening too but she didn't make it soo obvious, like her boyfriend was.

"...complimentary juice pack and complimentary peanuts."

"Thank you."

"Have you got that pillow for my neck?" the older gentlemen asked of the young woman.

"Yes, sir."

"And the pills?"

"Yes, all measured out for you, there you go."

The Doctor could be seen moving out the corner of Alice's eye, he had turned around to kneel on the seat facing the people behind. "Hobbes! Professor Winfold Hobbes!" The man introduced himself to the Doctor with a friendly smile.

Knowing there was no excuse for being rude and unsociable, Alice put down her magazine turned around in her seat to greet them with a smile.

"I'm the Doctor, hello!" The Time Lord cheerfully greeted in return, as he shook hands with Professor Hobbes. Hands free he nodded towards his girlfriend affectionately squeezing her shoulder. "And this stunning creature is my girlfriend, Alice Noble."

The young Noble couldn't help the blush coming to her cheeks after he spoke.

"Hello!" Professor Hobbes grinned at her, giving her hand a shake.

"Hi, nice to meet you," Alice returned equally.

Afterwards he let go. "It's my 14th time!" He stated proudly to the couple.

"Oh!." The Doctor informed him with a nod. "Our first

"First outing as boyfriend and girlfriend, then?" Professor Hobbes laughed. It was kind of a nice feeling being referred to as that.

"And I'm Dee Dee," The woman, having introduced herself as Dee Dee holding out her hand, "Dee Dee Blasco." She shakes hands with the Doctor, then Alice.

"Now don't bother them!" Professor Hobbes scolded her slightly.

But Alice didn't really like his tone towards her, "She's not bothering anyone..." just as she was about to call him an asshole, the Doctor's hand covered her mouth before it could slip out, shaking his head at her. She pulled his hand away glaring at him folding her arms which makes him wince.

It seemed that had the Professor ignored what Alice almost said as he asked Dee Dee for his drink, "Where's my water bottle?"

Almost in the far back of the shuttle Alice could see Monica, talking to a young man. He wore all back and had black hair that hung in front of his eyes. Of course he was cute, in a bad boy sort of way, if still single at this moment in time she would've pushed that hair back to properly look at his eyes. But of course her boyfriend the Doctor without her noticing caught her staring, frowning with his eyes full of jealousy.

The hostess Monica handed things over to the young man repeating what she had to everyone else, "... complimentary slippers, complimentary juice pack, and complimentary peanuts, I must warn you some products may contain nuts."

"Don't be silly, come and sit with us." The middle aged blonde woman, who Alice guessed must be the young man's mother, called to him. "Look! We get slippers!"

"Jethro! Do what your mother says."

Now the young man, Jethro, crossed his arms across his chest glaring who she assumed is his father. "I'm sitting here."

"Oh, he's ashamed of us." Alice sees Jethro's dad roll his eyes. "But he doesn't mind us paying, does he?"

"Oh, don't you two start." His mum sighed, changed the subject, "Should I save the juice pack or have it now? Look, peach and clementine!"

Monica comes to the front of the shuttle, with the intention of addressing everyone in the shuttle. "Ladies and gentlemen and variations thereupon, welcome on board the Crusader 50, if you would fasten your seatbelts, we'll be leaving any moment."

Doing as such Alice and the Doctor turned back to sit down properly in their seats, buckling up like Monica had said.

"Doors!" The doors automatically slid closed at her command.

"Shields down!" Shields descended in front of the windows.

"I'm afraid the view is shielded until we reach the Waterfall Palace." Monica informed looking to each person. "Also, a reminder, Midnight has no air, so please don't touch the exterior door seals. Fire exit at the rear, and should we need to use it... you first." She laughed, but Alice felt that it was a little forced but unsure to why she was laughing. "Now I will hand you over to Driver Joe."

"Driver Joe at the wheel!" Driver Joe greeted cheerfully through the intercom, "There's been a diamondfall at the Winter Witch Canyon, so we'll be taking a slight detour, as you'll see on the map." Just then, a map appeared on a screen. "The journey covers 500 kliks to the Multifaceted Coast, duration is estimated at four hours. Thank you for travelling with us, and as they used to say in the olden days, wagons roll!"

Once done, the engines accelerated and the shuttle started moving. With a sigh, Alice grabbed her magazine once again and leaned back in her seat. It was going to be a long trip that's for sure. Which she was thankful enough to have brought more than one magazine with her.

Monica stepped forward. "For your entertainment, we have the Music Channel playing retrovids of Earth Classics." She pushed a button on the remote she had and screens appeared before every passenger, displaying a music video that of Raffaelo Cara singing, Do It, Do It, Again. Something Alice knew her mum liked listening to. "Also, the latest artistic installation from Ludovico Klein." Another button is pushed, starting a holographic fashion show. "Plus, for the youngsters, a rare treat - the Animation Archives." Going over to a projector, turned it on as it displays cartoons, some Alice didn't know existed.

"You've got to be joking me," Alice muttered under her breath and a roll of her eyes.

Monica grinned, "Four hours of funtime! Enjoy!"

This stuff wasn't fun, it was so loud and obnoxious. Mostly, with all of the things going on around them it was starting to give Alice a banging headache. Wanting to avoid listening to anymore she rummaged around in the pile of stuff they'd been given by Monica. It was obvious nobody else was enjoying it, maybe except for Jethro's parents.

Alice groaned out in frustration. "Where have those bloody earplugs gotten to?!" She fumed, her fiery Noble temper coming to the surface. Taking a moment she remembered the sonic screwdriver, turning to her boyfriend who already had it out ready to stop it. "Please, please just turn it all off there's no way I'm sitting through this for four hours." She begged in a whisper.

"Lets do something about it then," looking back at Alice the Doctor winked at her before sneakily using his sonic and stopping it abruptly.

'Thank God.' Alice thought as she sighed in relief.

"Well, that's a mercy!" Professor Hobbes exclaimed from behind them sounding rather relieved.

Alice saw Monica frowning whilst pressing the buttons again, only it didn't work in the slightest. "I do apologise, ladies and gentlemen and variations thereupon. We seem to had a failure of the Entertainment System..."

"Oh, no." The Doctor sighed in mock disappointment, pretending he's upset about what's happened.

"Oh, that's a shame," his girlfriend added as they shared a cheeky yet secretive grin.

"But what do we do?!" Alice heard Jethro's mother exclaiming from the back her eyes wide as saucers.

It was only that Jethro's feeling just as upset as his wife. "We've got four hours of this! Four hours of just... sitting here?"

Clearing his throat, getting the whole trucks attention undone his seatbelt and stood. "Tell you what! We'll have to talk to each other instead!" The Time Lord was grinning back at them who stared oddly back in return, as though this idea of his was weird.


	23. Midnight Part 2

_**98 kliks later...**_

The idea was an odd enough one at first, until eventually it became a really good idea about 98 kliks later, everyone was laughing, nattering away enjoying themselves and exchanging stories with each other. Right now, Jethro's parents, Val and Biff, were supposedly telling a funny story to her boyfriend the Doctor who was grinning stupidly away. To be honest Alice didn't find it amusing in the slightest and just plain boring. She now wished, to be with her sister back at the spa relaxing by the pool with a good book. Because honestly this trip to her was now a total let down.

Shaking her head she glanced briefly over to the blonde woman at the front who Monica had spoken to first off, she was minding her own and reading a book. Alice and the Doctor currently are standing with Val and Biff, the young Noble putting on smile of interest. Their son Jethro catches her eye, who was sinking down further into his seat out of the embarrassment of his parents. Don't get her wrong parents were embarrassing enough, just like the times when her parents would show off baby pictures to her boyfriends. That's how embarrassed Jethro looked to her.

Alice rolled her eyes soon as they started laughing and broke away. Slumped into the seat besides Jethro's, "All right if I sit here?" She asked only to be stared back at, "Ok, I'm gonna take that uncomfortable silence as a yes then," Alice grinned and crossed her arms over her chest, sinks into the chair, she nodded her head at Jethro's parents, "Talk about embarrassing right?"

He stared at Alice just a couple seconds longer, not wanting to be a creep for finding the girl attractive he spoke up, "Tell me something I don't already know..."

"It might be worse? For all you know they could be showing baby pictures of you," Jethro's eyes went wide as Alice laughed, "Believe me that would really be embarrassing and I've been through it to know enough. Like every time when I would bring a bloke home, my mum would get out the pictures, it's not fun in the slightest."

He nodded, "Sounds about right."

"Yep, definitely," the young Noble now held out her hand, "Alice, nice to meet you."

Jethro took her hand and briefly shook it, "Jethro," he turned his head back towards his parents who were still chatting away with the man in the blue suit Alice came with, "The amount of times they've told this to anyone and it still isn't funny."

"Well that's parents for you. Makes you wonder if they come from different planets," Alice commented with a shrug. Jethro snorted with laughter and nodded his head in agreement, "There's a good side to having embarrassing parents as well."

"Yeah what's that?" He asked with keen interest.

"I bet there's a couple of stories about your parents that would really embarrass them," she gave him a friendly pat on the arm, "I wouldn't mind hearing some."

The young man paused for a couple of seconds, before a menacing grin appeared on his face, "Actually, there was one time..."

She knew the Time Lord within her locket would have been in stitches at the story Val and Biff told. Even though the Doctor could sense Alice was a little disappointed about what she going to see, there she was smiling softly and laughing away with Jethro. She briefly glanced up seeing a pleasant look in his eyes, turned back. There was something else there in his gaze. Since the whole incident with River in the Library, he looked more at ease with himself... more happy which Alice hoped was a good thing.

 _ **150 kliks later...**_

Alice is still chatting away with Jethro, whilst her boyfriend had gone to the galley with Dee Dee for a coffee her disappointment of what she was going to see forgotten.

"Just going to get a drink," the young red head got up from her seat beside Jethro and checked if he wanted something, "You need anything?"

"No thanks I'm good."

"Hello beautiful!" the Doctor exclaimed happily, as he saw his mate approaching. She wrapped her arm around his waist pressed into his side and he rested a his free hand on her hip. Dee Dee couldn't help how but notice how well the two looked together as a couple, soo in love you could see it in their eyes.

"Sorry, what were you talking about before interrupted?" Alice apologised for interrupting the young woman.

"That's alright," she accepted Alice's apology before going on to explain, "I was just telling your boyfriend about how I got my job with Professor Hobbes," She turned to the Doctor, "That I'm a second year student, who wrote a paper on the Lost Moon of Poosh, Professor Hobbes told me he read it and how much he enjoyed it, then took me on as his researcher for the holidays," Dee Dee paused for a few seconds, "When, I say researcher, I'm mostly fetching and carrying things for him most of the time."

"Well, that doesn't accomplish anything," Alice commented with a scoff, grabbing a cup and pouring some water into it. Only the young woman shook her head and brushed it off.

"But it's all good experience!"

"Of course experience matters ," Alice casually agreed as she took a sip of water.

"And did they ever find it?" The Time Lord wondered curiously.

"Find what?"

"The Lost Moon of Poosh!"

"Oh no!" Dee Dee laughed with a shake of her head, "Not yet!"

"Well, maybe that'll be your great discovery, one day," Alice smiled as he spoke, looking at her briefly and then lifted his cup, "To Poosh!"

The young woman grinned back also raising her cup clicking their cups together, "Poosh!" With one final smile she left, leaving the two alone.

Alice comes up to him and wrapped her hands around his neck looking up into his inviting brown eyes, "Sorry about misleading you about coming on this trip with me," the Time Lord put his cup down and rested his hands upon Alice's hips bringing her a little closer.

"Yeah, a sapphire waterfall it sounded oh so appealing at the time," the young Noble rolled her eyes.

"How about I promise something a little more exiting when we get back to the TARDIS," the Doctor whispered into her ear, making her blush more brighter than her hair.

 _ **209 kliks later...**_

Lunch had now been served, the Doctor was now sat beside the blonde woman who's name he and Alice learned was Sky. The redhead was currently sitting on the floor with her back resting against her boyfriends legs meal on her outstretched legs, whilst he absently played with and stroked her hair, talking to the woman.

"No, no, I'm with my girlfriend and this friend of mine Donna," the Time Lord was now just saying to Sky.

"My sister," His girlfriend informed her, "She stayed behind in the Leisure Palace. You?"

"No, it's just me." Sky sighed deeply.

"Oh, I've done plenty of that. Travelling on my own. I love it, but loved it even more since Alice came along with her sister. Do what you want...as long as I behave! Go anywhere really!"

"No, I'm still getting used to it. I've... found myself single rather recently, not by choice."

"Oh, sorry," Alice turned to reach the woman giving her a brief touch of comfort, "What happened?"

"Oh, the usual," Sky shrugged, "She needed her own space, as they say. A different galaxy, in fact. I reckon that's enough space, don't you?"

"Yeah... I had a friend who went to a different universe," the Time Lord told her sadly.

Alice remembered when the Doctor talked with her about Rose after the first few weeks of traveling with him. There always used to be such pain in his voice when he spoke. He seemed as though he was commenting it on some level he could relate to Sky. It made her wonder if he still had feelings for Rose but maybe there was some hope that he was finally moving on. She was in a another universe now, safe and with her family.

"Oh, what's this, chicken or beef?" Sky asked after taking he wrapping off her meal, staring down at the food.

The Doctor brought odd food item up to his face with a fork, "I think it's both."

"Oh, leave off," Alice scrunched up her face, dropping the fork of food back on her plate instantly losing her appetite.

 _ **251 kliks later...**_

Dinner had long since finished but Alice's case (a couple of bags complimentary pea nuts), Professor Hobbes was currently keeping everyone entertained with a slide show about his research of Midnight. The young Noble now yawned and rubbed her eyes getting rather bored, head going to rest on the Doctor's shoulder.

Professor Hobbes was right now showing them a map, "So, this is Midnight, d'you see? Bombarded by the sun!" He spoke excitedly, "Xtonic rays, raw galvanic radiation. Dee Dee, next slide!" she quickly changed to the next one, "It's my pet project. Actually, I'm the first person to research this. Because you see... the history is fascinating, because there is no history. There's no life in this entire system, there couldn't be. Before the Leisure Palace Company moved in, no-one had come here in all eternity. No living thing."

"But how d'you know?"Jethro questioned from the back, rasing his eyebrow I mean, "If no-one can go outside..."

"Oh, his imagination!" Val scoffed at her son rolling her eyes, "Here we go!"

"Excuse me, nothing wrong with having a bit of an imagination!" Alice came to the defence of the young man angrily. It was like when their mother always put Donna down all the time and it just wasn't right for a parent to bully their own. It's that now Val doesn't give any response, only for her to snobbishly tip her nose in the air. The young Noble only rolled her eyes in return.

"She's right he has a point, though," the Time Lord agreed with her.

"Exactly," Alice continued on from him, "If nobody or no one can touch the surface of this planet, then how can he or anyone for that matter know if there's anything living there?"

"Exactly!" Hobbes cried to the couple with a nod, "We look upon this world through glass. Safe inside our metal box. Even the Leisure Palace was lowered down from orbit. And here we are now, crossing Midnight, but never touching it."

Suddenly there's a rattling outside the truck, before the engines stilled, everything going dead quiet. Alice felt the Doctor stiffen beside her and they shared a look with each other. This kind of deafening silence had become a familiar one to the Doctor over the years meaning very bad things were to come or about to happen, the last thing he wants right now was to Alice in the middle of it.

"We've stopped," the young Noble heard Val whispering, "Have we stopped?"

"Are we there?" Biff asked looking around.

Dee Dee shook her head,"We can't be," then she checked her watch in confusion as she stood up, "It's too soon."

"They don't stop, Crusader vehicles never stop," Hobbes remarked as he frownwed.

It's now that Monica came and tried to take control of the whole situation and to Alice she looked just as confused as the rest of the passengers before going to the intercom, "If you could just... return to your seats, it's... just a small delay."

"Maybe just a pit stop," Biff guessed.

"What's going on?" Monica hissed to the driver through the intercom that was beside the cockpit door.

"There's no pit to stop in," Hobbes argued standing from his seat like the rest, "I've been on this expedition 14 times, they never stop."

"Hate to break it to you professor but there's always a first time for anything," Alice joked with a scoff, bringing a bit of humour to the situation. It seemed Jethro was the only on that found it funny.

"Well evidently, we have stopped, so there's no point in denying it," Sky angrily snapped as she glared at Hobbes.

"We've broken down!" Jethro laughed, a smirk appearing on his face.

"Thanks, Jethro," Val told her son dryly with a roll of her eyes.

"In the middle of nowhere!"

"That's enough, now stop it!" Biff scolded his son glaring at him.

Monica comes before the argument would spiral out of control, coming down the aisle, "Ladies and gentlemen and variations thereupon, we're just experiencing a short... delay, the driver needs to stabilise the engine feeds," she informed them all, "It's perfectly routine, so if you could just stay in your seats..."

But knowing the Doctor, he walked in the direction of the drivers cabin Alice coming along to offer her help. It was when Monica sees this she's quickly on their heels, "No, I'm sorry sir, miss I..." she called trying to get ahead of the couple "Could you please..."

The Time Lord interrupted her with a flash of his physic paper, "There you go, engine expert!" He pulled Alice aside and whispered to her, "Stay here with the other passengers, while I check what's going on. Alright?"

"Sure," she agreed with a nod.

"That's my girl," he kissed the top of her head affectionately and afterwards left going through the door of the cabin, "Two ticks!"

 **-Doctor Who-**

Alice went to sit back in her seat and rested her eyes for a few minutes, while doing this she didn't know that Sky was watching her. After awhile she opened her eyes noticing the woman wasn't in her seat, but by the door of the driver's cabin just as her other half comes out. Pounding out question after question before Alice could even get up, "What did they say? Did they tell you? What is it, what's wrong?"

"Oh, just stabilising, happens all the time," The Doctor reassured them with a smile, something about the way he said it was a little tense to the young Noble. That what he might be saying isn't probably true. Meaning there was something wrong or something was about to happen to them.

Sky didn't look at all convinced, "I don't need this. I'm on a schedule," she grumbled, "This is completely unnecessary!"

Now, Monica comes up to the two, "Back to your seats, thank you," she now headed towards the cockpit as the Doctor and Sky went back to their seats.

Soon as he sat down Alice immediately, but quietly asked, "What happened in that cabin?"

Her boyfriend only gave her a simple response and shook his head, "Nothing happened."

But the young woman knew that wasn't true, "Doc don't give me that 'Nothing' nonsense mister, I've know you long enough when to see something isn't right," she continued but more harshly, intertwining their fingers together and squeezing them so his eyes would look into hers, "Tell me, what happened?"

He looked down at their joined hands and then back up into those dazzling green orbs seeing concern in them. Yes he did witness something in that cockpit with the drivers, apart from the stunning landscape was a shadow figure that could be heading for this truck to harm everyone inside it. The Time Lord opened his mouth about to tell her, only to be interrupted by Dee Dee tapping him on the arm.

"Excuse me, Doctor," she peaked her head around the side of chair, "But they're micropetrol engines, aren't they?"

"Now, don't bother them," Professor Hobbes, reprimanded his assistant.

"Oh, just let her talk," Alice told him firmly.

Dee Dee smiled at the young red head with appreciation, "Thanks," she told her before returning her attention back to her boyfriend the Doctor, "My father was a mechanic. Micropetrol doesn't stabilise, what does 'stabilise' mean?"

"Well," the Doctor began dragging it out, another one of his annoying habit's Alice loved but hated, "Bit of flim-flam. Don't worry, they're sorting it out," he waved it off reassuring everything was perfectly fine when he really knew it wasn't.

"So it's not the engines?" Professor Hobbes asked with a slight frown.

"It's just a little pause, that's all," he promised convincingly that it was fine.

"How much air have we got?" he gasped loudly that the whole truck heard him and looked in their direction.

"My God, for a professor your not as smart as I thought you were," Alice scoffed, shaking her head at the man. Who had taken this trip 14 times was not prepared well for change.

"Professor, it's fine," Dee Dee tried to calm him, but it was now about start a commotion amongst the rest of the passengers.

"What did he say?" Val looked over alarmed, poking her nose into the situation.

"Nothing!" Alice shouted, glaring at Val for a couple of seconds before turning back.

"Are we running out of air?"

"I was just speculating..." Professor Hobbes began to speculate, only then he winced realising that it wasn't the best decision, now as Monica returned from the drivers cabin.

"Now, now he realises he's been loud," Alice muttered to the Doctor.

"Is that right, miss?" Biff asked her as he stood, "Are we running out of air?"

"Is that what the Captain said?" Val's asked her eyes widening.

"If you could all just remain calm..."Monica began trying to divert the subject.

"How much air have we got?"

"Mum, just stop it," Jethro told her, rolling his eyes at his mothers overreactive behaviour.

"I assure you, everything is under control," Monica tried reassuring them, even though to Alice to didn't sound convinced herself with the smile on her face.

"Well, doesn't look like it to me!" Biff snapped angrily.

"Well, he said it..." Val began directing her hand at Hobbes.

"... it's fine, the air is on a circular filter..." Alice heard Dee Dee speaking but it seemed nobody was hearing her. As everything was getting too panicked and loud.

"... he started it..."

"Everyone..." even the Doctor was trying to get their attention but he wasn't heard, as everyone was just on top of each other yelling. Not being able to take it anymore, Alice put two fingers into her mouth and out came a loud high pitched silencing the room.

"There now I can hear myself think..." they all stared at the young red head rather afraid of her, but all the Time Lord could do was smile, "Now, lets all calm the hell down and listen to Dee Dee here."

"Oh!" Dee Dee rather startled by this spoke up, "Um... it's just that... well, the air's on a circular filter so... we could stay breathing for ten years."

"There you go!" The Doctor grinned happily, "And I've spoken to the Captain, I can guarantee you, everything's fine."

Soon after the words 'everything's fine' had left him, two loud knocks echoed on the outside of the shuttle, the whole room jumped, including Alice who even surprised herself and clung onto the Doctor. But how could someone knock when there was nobody outside?


	24. Midnight Part 3

"What was that?" Val gasped, her eyes wide.

"It must be the metal," Professor Hobbes suggested with a remark, sounding like he believed it, "We're cooling down, it's just settling..."

"Rocks," Dee Dee guessed, "Could be rocks falling."

"What I want to know is, how long do we have to sit here," Biff grumbled.

This made Alice irritatingly roll her eyes at him, "Are you being serious?!

Before a response is even given, the double knock is repeated again. This time on another wall of the shuttle and closer to where Sky was.

"What is that?" She breathed.

"Is someone out there?" Val asked nervously.

"Now, don't be ridiculous!" Hobbes scoffed rolling his eyes.

"Like I said, it could be rocks," Dee Dee repeated her suggestion.

"We're out in the open," Monica denied this and shook her head, "Nothing could fall against the sides."

Again, another two knocks on the wall. Alice was now getting starting to get really creeped out.

"Knock knock," she heard her boyfriend mumbled from beside her.

"Who is there?" Jethro responded with a stupid grin on his face, making the young Noble roll her eyes at him and shake her head.

"Is there something out there?" Sky gasped but nobody answered, "Well? Anyone?" All that was given as a response this time was just more knocking and she started to get frustrated, "What the hell is making that noise?"

"I'm sorry," Professor Hobbes spoke up shaking his head, "But the light out there is Xtonic, that means it would destroy any living thing, in a split-second," he pressed on, "It is impossible for someone to be outside."

"Well not impossible, just a bit unlikely!" Alice called out with a grin, as Hobbes ignored her comment, at least it made her man smile.

Another two knocks came again... it was always two. Only two

"Well, what the hell is that, then?!"

The Time Lord got out of his seat over to wall were the knocking was last and Alice followed after him. She stood behind as he got out a stethoscope. Pressing it against the wall he listened to whatever was outside, if there was anything out there that is.

"Sir! Miss!" Monica shouted, "You really should get back to your seats!"

"Monica, I'm sorry," Alice turned her head to the hostess briefly, "But can you please be quiet for just a few?" Her attention went back to her boyfriend, who quietly spoke listening intently.

"Hello?"

The knocking now came again quickly, not from the same spot. But from behind them, near the fire exit at the shuttles rear.

"It's moving..." Jethro noted, as they all looked at the door Alice having the urge to go and smack him one.

The door started rattling, like someone or something was trying to get in. The young Noble gripped onto the Doctor in fear again.

"It's trying the door!" Val screeched nervously, staring at the door as it got worse.

"There is no 'it', there's nothing out there," Professor Hobbes snapped insistently, "Can't be."

"Really Professor Know-It-All?" Alice offered sarcastically, temper firing up glared back at him made a step forward about to clobber him but the Doctor held her back before Professor Hobbes saw.

The door rattled wildly again for whatever was outside moved around them, knocking twice, from the roof and the side door.

"That's the entrance," Val looked over, "Can it get in?"

"No," Dee Dee reassured, shaking her head, "That door's on two hundred weight of hydraulics."

"Uh, sorry but I don't think whatever this thing is actually cares," Alice rolled her eyes at Dee Dee. But again got ignored. Who would blame them for ignoring her anyway, she would of too. Taking the current situation.

"Stop it," Hobbes rolled his eyes as he turned to her, "Don't encourage them."

"What do you think it is?" She countered.

Biff spoke up and slowly headed for the door, his eyes narrowed, "Nah, it's cast iron, that door..."

"Biff, don't..." Val tried reasoning with her husband.

"Mr Cane, better not..." the Doctor began warning as he put the stethoscope away, tensing all the more as he realised this thing outside was smart. It knew how to get in just by rattling the door. He doesn't know if he's being paranoid but couldn't help feel if something bad would happen to Alice if this thing got in.

Going ahead Biff knocked on the door three times to prove it's fortitude, only to jump back as the thing copied him back. An unsettling chill travelled down Alice's spine as she gulped in fear and her grip tightened more knuckles going white.

"Three times!" Val gasped in horror, "Did you hear that, it did it three times?!"

"It answered!"

"It did it three times!"

The Time Lord stepped in, moving to stand with his mate in front of the door, "All right, all right, all right, everyone, calm down.

"No, but it answered, it... answered, don't tell me that thing's not alive, it answered him!" Sky argued loudly.

"I can never catch a bloody break when I'm with you sometimes," Alice muttered angrily under her breath making the Doctor wince.

Three knocks again.

"I really must insist, you get back to your seats!" Monica screeched impatiently, no longer calm, as Sky turned on her angrily.

"No!" She yelled back, "Don't just stand there telling us the rules! You're the hostess, you're supposed to do something!"

Alice having enough of the woman's behaviour let go of her boyfriend and went up to her, "What do expect her to bloody do?!" she hollered back, the situation getting to her, "She can't do anything, we can't do anything!"

"Alice..." The Doctor put his hand on Alice's shoulder to calm her. She took a deep cleansing breath and let some anger out. But it only helped, just a little.

Seeing she was cooling down a little, he let go of Alice turned around and knocked on the door four times, it getting repeated the same amount.

"Will you behave yourself mister!" Alice tugged him back.

"What is it, what the hell's making that noise?"Sky yelled again in total panic, she looked extremely freaked out to Alice, "She said she'd get me. Stop it, make it stop, somebody make it stop! Don't just stand there looking at me, it's not my fault, he started it with his stories..." she put the blame on the Doctor pointing frantically at him.

"Calm down!" Dee Dee turned to her and tried reassuring her but got ignored.

"... and he made it worse..." Sky was still gesturing at the Doctor.

"You're not helping!"

"...why couldn't you leave it alone? Stop staring at me! Just tell me what the hell it is!"

"Calm down!"

The knocking becomes continuous, as it echoed around the shuttle. In a panic, Sky backed herself up towards the cockpit, hands flying to her head and grasping it, "It's coming for me, ohh it's coming for me, it's coming for me... It's coming for me! It's coming for me!" She screamed, as the Doctor moved forward warningly.

"Get out of there!"

Before Alice can call after them both, there was an almighty explosion making as the whole shuttle rocked violently. Everything plunged into darkness and sparks flew around them. She tried to keep her balance but toppled sideways hitting one of the rows of chairs and fell down with people screaming around her. A familiar arm came around her waist pulling her close to his chest until the shuttle stopped moving.

The young Noble groaned in pain slightly now holding her side. It was pitch black inside the shuttle and she could barley see where everybody was.

"All right?" Alice heard Biff checking on his wife, "Okay."

"Ally," the Doctor took his mates hand and guided them both to their feet in the dark, "You alright?"

"Peachy," she responded sarcastically, as he pulled her into a hug and she winced in pain slightly. Looking over his shoulder seeing the entertainment screens were back on, as usual Raffaella Cara was singing away. It suddenly got replaced by familiar footage of a young blonde woman she had seen months ago calling out the Doctor's name silently. Then just like that it was gone.

"Sorry..." he apologised pulling away slightly and kissing her forehead lovingly.

"You all in one piece?" She looked up at him.

"Arms. Legs. Neck. Head. Nose. All accounted for," he confirmed looking himself up and down, "How are we, everyone all right?" the Doctor now called to the others.

"Earthquake, must be..." Professor Hobbes muttered in suggestion.

The young red head rolled her eyes internally, "No, an earthquake on an alien planet, you don't say," she offered sarcastically.

"But that's impossible, the ground is fixed, it's solid."

No more was said on the matter after that as Monica spoke up before anything else happened, "We've got torches, everyone, take a torch, they're in the back of the seats."

They soon find the torches and Alice switched hers on, flashed it on everyone. Some not really paying much attention as they searched the area.

"Oh, Jethro, sweetheart, come here..." Val went up to her son in concern and touched his shoulder, only for him to shrug her off.

"Never mind me, what about her?" He asked, nodding his head at Sky.

She was just sitting there in front of the shuttle motionless amongst the ruined seats head bowed and hands holding it, back to everyone. Alice just found it strange.

"What happened to the seats?" Val questioned, looking at the area around Sky.

'Seriously? That's the only thing you're worried about,' Alice thought to herself in exasperation.

"Who did that?"

"They've been ripped up."

Alice decided to ignore them and so did the Doctor as he stepped closer to Sky shining his torch, "It's all right," he offered soothingly, "It's all right, it's all right, it's over. We're still alive... look, the wall's still intact. D'you see?," he aimed his torch at the wall where there was a slight dent in.

Out the corner of her eye, the red head watched Monica go to the intercom trying to contact the drivers, "Joe, Claude?"

"We're safe," the Doctor reassured Sky, looking down at her.

"Driver Joe, can you hear me?" Monica asked, only for her to slam the intercoms phone down, "I'm not getting any response, the intercom must be down," the young Noble could sense the frustration in her voice as she went over to the cockpit door and opened it.

She was screaming as a blinding light flooded into the shuttle. Everyone else was screaming as well as they tried to cling on tight and not get sucked out. Without even thinking, Alice squinted and leaped forward not caring for the pain in her side, tugged Monica back roughly before quickly hitting the doors switch.

Breathing heavily she leaned back against the door, everyone stared back at her, "Phew, that was a close one," she smiled only for it to falter seeing disappointment on the Doctor's face.

"What happened?" Val demanded, "What was that?"

"Is it the driver? Have we lost the driver?"

Alice could see that Monica was shaking and went to comfort her, putting an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into the young woman's side, taking in the comfort she took a shuddering breath.

"The cabin's gone..." she replied with a whisper, everyone hearing her.

Hobbes only shook his head in disbelief, "Don't be ridiculous. It can't be gone, how can it be gone?"

"What kind of explanation is there for that then?" Alice asked, with a raised eyebrow gesturing at the door behind her. Only this time, he didn't have an answer.

"There was nothing there..." Monica was still shaking and the young woman squeezed her shoulders again, "Like it was ripped away..."

"Doctor?" Alice looked over in her boyfriends direction, who is stood on a seat fiddling with a wall panel, sonic in hand. She directed her torch up at him and tilted her head slightly, "What are you doing?"

"That's better, bit of light, thank you Ally. Molto bene!" He thanked his mate with a cheeky wink.

"No problem Doc, still doesn't answer my question though."

"D'you know what you're doing?" Val asked as she stared at him.

The red head shrugged, "Always depends on what day of the week if is with him."

"Thanks, Ally," the Doctor responded dryly, still concentrating on the panel.

Biff stepped up to him, "The cabin's gone, you'd better leave that wall alone."

"The cabin can't be gone!" Hobbes bellowed.

"No, it's safe, any rupture would automatically seal itself..." the Doctor explained.

"And the other explanation," the young Noble added with relief. But of course she spoke to soon and that relief vanished when the Doctor took the panel off, revealing wires cut all the way through. Making her heart sink. They were in serious danger that's for sure.

"But something sliced it off..." the Doctor glanced at Monica briefly, "You're right. The cabin's gone."

"But if it gets separated..."

"It loses integrity," the Time Lord finished standing up, "I'm sorry, they've been reduced to dust. The driver and the mechanic," Alice gave him a look that told him to lighten the mood, "But they sent a distress signal. Help is on its way. They saved our lives! We're gonna get out of here, I promise. We're still alive, and they're gonna find us."

"What if they don't find us?" Alice questioned quietly, he turned to gaze at her seeing fear in his mates eyes as she tightened her grip on Monica, "Then what happens?"

He is stuck on with a response to give her, he wanted to tell her everything would be ok and that they would get through this. But now danger was lurking around the corner and Alice couldn't help think she probably already jinxed it on something she had said before stepping on board.

This trip just got so much worse.


	25. Midnight Part 4

"Doctor," Jethro called out after a couple of seconds, as the young man watched Sky, who's position was still unchanged, "Look at her."

"Right, yes, sorry..." the Time Lord apologised sheepishly with a frown as he came and stood by the young man. As Alice stayed with Monica still giving her that much needed comfort as they both watched, "Have we got a medical kit?"

"Why won't she turn around?"

"What's her full name?" The Doctor asked looking over to Monica, who was still in the arms of his mate, "Sky what?"

"Silvestry," Monica replied, "Mrs. Sky Silvestry."

With that he nodded, moving towards her. "Sky? Can you hear me?" he crouched down beside her. "Are you all right? Can you move, Sky? Just look at me."

"That noise, from the outside..." Alice now heard Jethro trailing off with hesitation.

"What of it?" Val looked to her son.

"It's stopped."

"Well, thank God for that." She mumbled with relief.

Jethro went on with wonder ignoring his mother, "But what if it's not outside anymore? What if it's inside?"

"Inside? Where?" she squealed slightly, eyes whizzing around the shuttle.

"It was heading for her," his gaze now directed at Sky his torch shining on her.

"Sky..." the Time Lord gently spoke, placing a reassuring hand upon her shoulder lightly, "It's all right, Sky. I just want you to turn around, face me."

Sky started turning slowly, in the likes that reminded Alice of a scary film, her eyes wide like a possum that has been caught out. It sent such an unnerving chill right down her spine.

"Sky?" he asked, just only after a couple of seconds instead of replying, she repeated what the Doctor said.

"Sky?"

"Are you all right?" he gave it another shot.

"Are you all right?" Sky repeated, Alice now concerned glanced over in her boyfriends direction.

"Are you hurt?"

"Are you hurt?"

"You don't have to talk."

"You don't have to talk."

"I'm trying to help."

"I'm trying to help."

"My name's the Doctor."

"My name's the Doctor."

She continued to repeat whatever the Doctor was saying and he was getting beyond fustrated, "OK, can you stop?"

Sky once again repeated, "OK, can you stop?"

Alice widened her eyes. The repeating didn't make any sense. Nothing what was going on did right now and honestly it made her want to bit her nails or pull out her hair.

"I'd like you to stop."

"I'd like you to stop."

"Why's she doing that?"

Sky's wide eyed gaze, immediately turned to Professor Hobbes, tilting her head ever so slightly. To the young Noble it was starting to turn more and more into a scary sci-fi movie by the second.

"Why's she doing that?" she copied, staring at him.

"She's gone mad," Biff breathed with a frown, with only Sky repeating him her head whizzing over in his direction.

"She's gone mad."

"Stop it."

"Stop it."

"I said stop it!" Val started to yell at her with fustration, but it was no use. As Sky repeated once again.

"I said stop it!"

"I don't think she can," Dee Dee spoke up staring at her.

"I don't think she can."

"All right, now stop it, this isn't funny," Hobbes demanded as he glared at her.

"All right, now stop it, this isn't funny."

"Sh, sh, sh, all of you," the Time Lord called for silence from the others, giving the 'quiet down' motion with his hands slowly rose up on his feet.

"Sh, sh, sh, all of you."

"My name's Jethro!" Jethro called out in amusment, grin on his face, trying to see what the woman would say, seeing as she was repeating anything.

"My name's Jethro!"

"Jethro, leave it, just shut up!" the Doctor exclaimed glancing at him, getting annoyed by the young man.

"Jethro, leave it, just shut up!"

"Why are you repeating?" he asked Sky gently, looking down at her, he bent down, getting eye level.

"Why are you repeating?"

"What is that, learning?"

"What is that, learning?" Sky, copied, it was so eerie to Alice how she dragged the last word out just like the Doctor did.

"Copying?"

"Copying?"

The young red head groaned running a hand through her fiery locks in pure frustration, "Doc, I don't think any of this is helping."

"Doc, I don't think any of this is helping," Sky repeated what Alice just said, her eyes landing on her with the same wide look on them that she tried to avert their gaze.

"Absorbing?"

"Absorbing?"

"The square root of pi is 1.77245385090551602729816748..." the Doctor began with Sky following afterwards.

"The square root of pi is 1.77245385090551602729816748..."

"...3341. Wow!" he stared back rather awestruck.

"...3341. Wow!"

"But that's impossible," Hobbes on the other hand shook his head in disbelief. No way could she could have repeated that so quickly.

"But that's impossible."

"She couldn't repeat all that," Dee Dee nodded in agreement, looking on in disbelief as well.

"She couldn't repeat all that."

"Tell her to stop!" Val shouted.

"Tell her to stop!"

"She's driving me mad."

"She's driving me mad."

"Just make her stop!"

"Just make her stop!"

Everyone then all started talking at once, it was like a bomb about to blow any second. It was starting to grind on Alice's nerves to the point she would snap, the repeating was endless like a never ending song. She wanted to keep a level headed, but not this time, she just couldn't. About to scream from her frustrations, a high pitched sound emitted throughout the shuttle and the lights flickered back on. It got everyone to stop shouting at one another, Alice's hands now slipping out of her hair, that now resembled a birds nest.

"Well then, that's the back-up system," Monica remarked with a sigh as she got up off the floor.

"Well!" Biff nodded, "That's a bit better."

Val let out a deep breath and looked to Monica,"What about the rescue, how long's it gonna take?"

"About 60 minutes, that's all."

"50," Alice spoke up correcting her she had to guess it's been at least 10 minutes since the shuttle had stopped and all the commotion started.

Professor Hobbes now stepped forward, "Then I suggest we all calm down. This panic isn't helping. That poor woman is evidently in a state of..." what he said next, Sky was completely in sync word for word, "...self-induced hysteria, we should leave her alone."

"Doctor..." Alice spoke slowly, along with Jethro her eyes wide as both of them noticed what is now happening. She goes over to the Doctor and grabbing his hand squeezing it in fear.

"I know," he returned back with reassurance, he could tell she was getting scared.

"Doctor, now step back, I think you should leave her alone..." Hobbes/Sky stopped mid sentence of convincing the Time Lord, only just noticing what was happening, "What's she doing?"

"How can she do that?" Val/Sky asked staring at the woman, "She's talking with you... and with me!" she gripped tightly onto her husbands arm, "Oh, my God! Biff, what's she doing?"

"She's repeating..." Jethro/Sky offered, "At exactly the same time."

"That's impossible," Dee Dee/Sky shook her head trying not to believe it.

"There's not even a delay," Hobbes/Sky remarked with a frown.

"Ohh man, that is weird," Jethro/Sky said with a slight laugh.

"Tell me something I don't already know," Alice/Sky tightens her grip on the Doctor's hand, trying to ignore the woman copying her words, the best she could.

"I think you should all be very, very quiet," The Doctor/Sky asked moving forward, keeping hold of his Bonded looking back over at them, "Have you got that?"

"How's she doing it?" Val/Sky cried with distress staring at Sky who was staring right back at her.

"Mrs Cane, please, be quiet," The Doctor reached out with his free hand to but she backed out of his reach before he even touched her.

"But how can she do that?" Val/Sky demanded with a shake of her head, "She's got my voice, she's got my words!"

"Sweetheart, be quiet, just... hush now," Biff/Sky comforts his wife putting his arm around her shoulders, "Hush..." before his eyes blinked in realisation that it's happening to him as well, "She's doing it to me!"

"Just stop it, all of you," The Doctor/Sky pressed seriously letting go of Alice's hand even though he didn't want to he needed to keep her out of harms way, crouched before the blonde woman, "Stop it. Please."

The young Noble moved to sit upon the edge of one of the chairs still intact closest to him and watched.

"Now then, Sky. Are you Sky? Is Sky still in there? Mrs Silvestry?" he paused and looked at her, "You know exactly what I'm going to say, how are you doing that?" he paused realising she wouldn't speak until he spoke again, "Roast beef! Bananas! The Medusa Cascade. Bang! Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, Alice Noble, TARDIS! Shamble bobble dibble dooble. Oh, Doctor, you're so handsome. Yes I am, thank you. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O..."

The Time Lord stood to his feet with a frown, "First she repeats. Then she catches up. What's the next stage?"

"Next stage of what?" Dee Dee/Sky wondered in confusion as she stared back at him.

"But that's not her, is it?" Jethro/Sky asked softly, "That's not Mrs Silvestry any more."

"I don't think so, no," the Doctor/Sky sighed with a shake of his head.

"What do you think then, Doctor?" Alice spoke up as he turned in her direction. Looking at him like she was rather lost, hoping that he's found a way to get them out of this place. But she was wrong.

"I think... the more we talk, the more she learns. Now, I'm all for education, but in this case..." the Doctor took his mates hand stepping back, "Maybe not. Let's just... move back," the redhead got up and followed with him as he got the rest to do the same, "Come on. Come with me. Everyone, get back, all of you, as far as you can."

They walk to the galley.

"Doctor, make her stop," Val/Sky begged with a whisper.

Even though Alice disliked the woman she gently encouraged her to move, whilst trying to not take notice of Sky talking with her, "Come on, Val. Come over here and just take no notice of her. Come on, Jethro," guiding them along to the galley.

"Everyone, come on... 50 minutes," the Doctor/Sky began devising, "That's all we need. 50 minutes till the rescue arrives. And she's not exactly strong, look at her, all she's got is our voices."

"I can't look at her," Val/Sky finally turned away from her and the young Noble couldn't blame her they freaked her out as well, "It's those eyes."

"'We must not look at goblin men,'" Dee Dee/Sky now recited a quote, quite familiar to Alice, but left the others looking confused.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Biff/Sky frowned at her.

"It's a poem by Christina Rossetti I think," Alice/Sky responded with a brief knowing glance to the Doctor that the poem fit the current situation so well.

"'We must not look at goblin men,'" Dee Dee/Sky continued on softly, "'We must not buy their fruits. Who knows upon what soil they fed. Their hungry, thirsty roots?'"

"Thanks just got creeped out even more," Alice/Sky comments nervously with a gulp, squeezing her boyfriend's hand tightly.

"Yeah actually, I don't think that's helping," the Doctor/Sky muttered in agreement, returning an affectionate squeeze with his hand.

"She's not a goblin, or a monster," Hobbes/Sky insisted glaring at his assistant, "She's just a very sick woman!"

"Maybe that's why it went for her," Jethro/Sky suggested with a shrug.

But Alice had something to say about that, "Well she didn't look ill when we all got here," Alice/Sky offered.

"There is no 'it'!" Hobbes/Sky shouted."Think about it though," Jethro/Sky continued explaining, "That knocking, it went all the way round the bus until it found her. And she was the most scared, out of all of us. Maybe that's what it needed. That's how it got in."

For a moment his hearts almost stopped just at the thought that it could of happened to Alice and possessed her instead, but thankfully it hasn't.

"For the last time! Nothing can live on the surface of Midnight."

"Professor, I'm glad you've got an absolute definition of life in the universe, but perhaps the universe has got ideas of its own, mmm?" the Doctor/Sky turned to him frustrated letting go of Alice's hand, "Now trust me, I've got previous experience! I think there might well be some... consciousness inside Mrs Silvestry, but maybe she's still in there. And it's our job to help her."

"Well, you can help her, I'm not going near," Biff/Sky replied.

It's now that a sharp stabbing pain traveled up Alice's right side, reminding her she might have possibly broken rib or two from falling earlier. She now starts to feel a little hot and dizzy.

"No, I've got to stay back," the Doctor/Sky denied, suddenly noticing his mates pain and distress, he brought Alice closer to his side before she would fall, the last thing he wanted was for her to get sick, "If she's copying us, maybe the final stage is becoming us. I don't want her becoming me, or things could get a lot worse."

The young Noble wanted to respond with a shake of her head but was starting to feel worse for wear. Of course she knew the Doctor would be big headed at a time such as this.

"Oh, like you're both so special," Val/Sky sneered at him and Alice.

"As it happens, yes. Ally especially."

"Doctor," Alice voiced sternly sounding rather worse for wear, that bringing her into this wouldn't help anything. Even though she appreciated the compliment.

"So that's decided," the Doctor/Sky blatantly having ignored his mate probably not having heard her, "We stay back, and we wait. When the rescue ship comes, we can get her to hospital."

A long drawn out pause filled the shuttle, before getting broken by the hostess Monica, says something truly shocking that Alice's mouth dropped to the floor.

"We should throw her out," Monica/Sky suggested as she took a breath.

"I beg your pardon?" Hobbes/Sky gasped with widening eyes.

"What?!" Alice/Sky managed to cry out despite feeling ill, gawking at Monica her eyes widening also, "You're kidding, please tell me you're joking!"

"Can we do that?" Val/Sky wondered aloud

"Don't be ridiculous," the Doctor/Sky snapped his head to Val, looking at her rather appalled that she's agreeing to such an idea.

"That thing," Monica/Sky eyed her before taking a breath considering her words carefully, "Whatever it is, killed the driver, and the mechanic, and I don't think she's finished yet."

"She can't even move!" the Doctor/Sky protested, his hearts beating fiercely in his chest at hearing humans, talking so casually about killing someone.

"He's right!" Alice/Sky agreed, "She can't move! If what Jethro said is true, then they possibly died when it got inside the shuttle!" but she just got ignored by the others except for her boyfriend who she felt him nod his head in agreement.

"Look at her, look at her eyes!" Monica/Sky spat pointing at Sky who still was staring at everyone with those eyes, "She killed Joe, and she killed Claude, and we're next."

"She's still doing it," Biff/Sky turned around and charged towards Sky red in the face, "Just stop it! Stop talking!! Stop it!!!"

"Biff, don't, sweetheart!" Val/Sky pleaded with her husband.

"But she won't stop!" Biff/Sky walked back to the group, "We can't throw her out though, we can't even open the doors."

"No one is getting thrown out!" The Time Lord/Sky ordered glaring at Biff.

"Yes, we can," Dee Dee/Sky spoke up, "Cos there's an air pressure seal," she looked to Monica the hostess, "Like when you opened the cabin door, you weren't pulled out, you had a couple of seconds, cos it takes the pressure-wall about six seconds to collapse. Well, six seconds exactly. That's enough time to throw someone out."

"Are we seriously still talking about this!" Alice/Sky complained staring disbelievingly at the two women.

"Thanks, Dee Dee, just what we needed," the Doctor/Sky stated sarcastically to the young woman rolling his eyes.

"Would it kill her, outside?" Val/Sky asked out of wonder.

"I don't know," Dee Dee/Sky offered with a shrug, "But she's got a body now, it would certainly kill the physical form."

"No one is killing anyone!" the Doctor/Sky yelled at them. But it seemed to Alice that nobody was listening to him anymore.

"I wouldn't risk the cabin door twice, but we've got that one,"Monica/Sky suggested pointing to the fire exit behind them, "All we need to do is grab hold of her and throw her out."

A burst of unknown energy went throughout Alice's body and a familiar itch in her side to that of what healed her bullet wound. Suddenly she didn't feel so weak anymore, pulling herself free from the Doctor's grip having enough.

"Oh, my God stop!" Alice/Sky shouted angrily startling everyone tears in her eyes, "Do you lot hear yourselves?! You're talking about murdering somebody!"

"Now, listen, all of you," the Doctor cut in, not liking the tears in Alice's eyes, "For all we know that's a brand new life form over there. And if it's come inside to discover us, than what's it found? This little bunch of humans, what d'you amount to? A murder? Cos this is where you decide. You decide who you are. Could you actually murder her? Any of you? Really? Or are you better than that?"

Just for a few seconds they looked at each other in silence. Then…

"I'd do it," Monica/Sky admitted first to speak Alice shook her head in disbelief. Questioning if this was really happening. Or was she having a really bad nightmare?


	26. Midnight Final

"So would I," Biff/Sky added.

"And me," Val/Sky agreed.

"I think we should," Dee Dee/Sky admitted with a bite of her lip.

"What?!" both Alice/the Doctor/Sky exclaimed simultaneously.

"I want her out," Dee Dee/Sky hissed.

"You can't say that!" the Doctor/Sky glared at her angrily with his Bonded nodding her head enthusiastically in agreement with him.

"I'm sorry, but you said it yourself, Doctor, she is growing in strength."

"He never said that, Dee Dee!" Alice defended her boyfriend, "Even if he did that's not a reason to kill someone!"

"I want to go home," Dee Dee/Sky cried her lip trembling slightly, "I'm sorry. I want to be safe."

"You'll be safe," the Doctor/Sky reassured her calmly as possible, "Any minute now, the rescue truck is on its way."

"But what happens then, Doctor?" Monica/Sky cut in seriously, "If it takes that thing back to the Leisure Palace, if that thing reaches civilisation, what if it spreads?"

"No, when we get back to the base, I'll be there to contain it," the Doctor stated clearly as he shook his head.

"You haven't done much so far!" Val/Sky spat in argument as she glared at him.

"You're just standing in the back with the rest of us!" Biff/Sky agreed with his wife.

"She's dangerous," Monica/Sky added in agreement, "It's my job to see this vessel is safe, and we should get rid of her."

"Now hang on, I think, perhaps we're all going a little bit too far," Hobbes/Sky finally cut in.

"At last!" the Doctor/Sky cried in relief, "Thank you."

"Two people are dead!" Monica/Sky screeched.

"So let's not make it a third!" Alice/Sky warned, trying to keep her temperament under control. She thought the likes of Dee Dee would be on her and the Doctor's side against the others, but that was proven to be one big disappointment all together.

"Jethro, what d'you say?" the Doctor/Sky turned to him.

"I'm not killing anyone," Jethro/Sky shook his head, finally someone was on their side!

"Thank you!" Alice/Sky smiled at him slightly.

"He's just a boy!" Val/Sky tried waving her son off.

"What, so I don't get a vote?" Jethro/Sky demanded angrily to his mother.

"For Christ sakes there is no vote!" Alice/Sky groaned, throwing up her arms in the air in exasperation.

"Exactly, it's not happening!" the Doctor/Sky agreed with his mate, "Ever. If you try to throw her out that door, you'll have to get past me first."

"You'll have to go through me as well," Alice/Sky challenged, earning a stern look from her boyfriend.

"No, your not doing anything of the sort Alice. But I am," the Doctor/Sky retorted to her putting his foot down, not wanting her to put herself in harms way.

The young Noble opened her mouth about to protest. She wasn't going to stand by and let him fight this battle on his own. But before she could even voice her opinion, she gets interrupted.

"Okay," Monica/Sky simply remarked.

"Fine by me," Biff/Sky nodded crossing his arms.

"Oh, now you're being stupid,"the Doctor/Sky remarked, trying to pull Alice behind him, but she shrugged him off knowing she can handle herself, "Just think about it! Could you actually take hold of someone and throw them out of that door?"

"Calling me a coward?" Biff/Sky demanded.

"Sorry mate, being a coward is the easy way out because you're scared senseless, so yes that's exactly what you are!" Alice/Sky exclaimed, glaring at him with all her might.

In response, he took a dangerous step towards her, which rang alarm bells in the Doctor's eyes as he brought his arm out protectively in front of her and glared heatedly at Biff, causing him to stop.

"Don't. You. Dare," the Doctor/Sky warned rather darkly. Causing Alice's heart to flutter a little at how protective her boyfriend was being.

"Who put you in charge, anyway?" Val/Sky demanded glaring back at him in turn, coming to her husbands defence.

"I'm sorry, but... you're a Doctor of what, exactly?" Hobbes/Sky questioned curiously with a frown.

"He wasn't even booked in and neither was his girlfriend," Monica/Sky stated in answer, as Alice was still getting used to the whole girlfriend thing, "Rest of you, tickets in advance. They both just turned up out of the blue."

Excellent. Now they were going to get the blame.

"Where from?" Val/Sky asked suspiciously.

"We're just... travelling," the Doctor/Sky stuttered ever so slightly trying to fish for an answer, "We're travellers, that's all."

"Like immigrants?" Val/Sky asked.

"Who were you talking to?" Monica/Sky demanded, "Before you got on board, you were talking to someone, who was that?"

"Just Donna, just my friend," the Doctor offered simply.

"I can account for that," Alice/Sky added, "For the fact she's my sister. Probably won't help anyway," she sheepishly pointed out her boyfriend flashing her a look.

"And what were you saying to her?" Biff/Sky asked suspiciously.

"He hasn't even told us his name," Val/Sky remarked with a sneer.

"Thing is, Doctor," Jethro/Sky spoke slowly, "You've been loving this."

"Jethro, not you too, I thought you were on our side," Alice/Sky sighed looking at him, with hurt and diappointment that he was joining the others.

"No, but ever since all the trouble started, you've been loving it," Jethro/Sky defended ignoring the red heads plea.

"It has to be said, you do seem to have a certain... glee," Hobbes/Sky admitted.

"It's just the way he is, nothing to get suspicious over," Alice/Sky protested, wanting them to stop jumping to conclusions about the Doctor. Well she thought that would of worked if he hadn't opened his stupid mouth.

"All right, I'm interested, yes," the Doctor/Sky stated, "I can't help it, cos whatever's inside her, it's brand new, and that's fascinating!"

This didn't help the whole situation.

"What, you wanted this to happen?" Val/Sky gasped her eyes widening in horror.

"No!" the Doctor/Sky excalimed.

"And you were talking to her," Biff/Sky recalled, "Before all the trouble, right at the front, you were talking to that Sky woman, the three of you together, I saw you."

"We all did!" Val/Sky nodded in agreement.

"And you went into the cabin!" Monica/Sky inturrupted.

"What were you saying to her?" Biff/Sky demanded with a glare.

"We were just talking to her that's all!" Alice/Sky shouted in her boyfriends defence.

"Saying what?"

"You called us humans like you're not one of us!" Jethro/Sky pointed out in realisation.

"He did!" Val/Sky gasped understanding what her son was saying, "That's what he said!"

"And the wiring, he went into that panel and opened up the wiring," Dee Dee/Sky agreed with a nod of her head.

"That was after!" the Doctor/Sky contered in defense.

Alice stood there, knowing she's already said a few choice words. She wondered if she said anymore that it might do more harm than good. But honestley, she didn't see it that way and wasn't going down with the Doctor without a fight.

"But how did you know what to do?" Biff/Sky asked as he turned to glare at him.

"Because I'm clever!" the Doctor/Sky yelled and just like that everything stopped, a deathly silence in the air. It seemed it was his words that always done more harm than good.

The young Noble winced internally, knowing the one thing that you never do is insult a humans intelligence. Especially when you're standing before them.

"I see," Hobbes/Sky remarked siffly, feeling rather offened like the group were, "Well. That makes things clear."

"And what are we, then?" Biff/Sky asked, "Idiots?"

"That's not what I meant," the Doctor/Sky protested softly wanting to try and diffuse the whole situation now feeling rather foulish of himself.

"If you're clever then what are we?" Dee Dee/Sky looked to the Doctor, still rather hurt by his comment. He seemed such a nice man and there he went, calling them stupid of all things!

"You've been looking down on us from the moment we walked in," Val/Sky reasoned with a sneer.

"Even if he goes, he's practically volunteered," Monica/Sky added.

"Oh come on, just listen to yourself, please!" the Doctor/Sky pleaded, feeling his mates hand come into his and squeezed it.

"What d'you mean, we throw him out as well?" Biff/Sky brushed the Doctor off completely and looked to the hostess.

"If we have to," Monica/Sky shrugged rather determined about it.

"Look, just..." the Doctor/Sky tried to reason with them the panic rising inside him, as Alice squezeed his hand tightly, he didn't know what she would do if they threw him out that door now, "Right, sorry, yes, hold on, just... I know, you're scared, and so am I, look at me," the young Noble really looked at him and for once he was actually proper scared something she never saw before, "I am. But we have all got to calm down and cool off and think."

"Perhaps you could tell us your name," Hobbes/Sky asked resonably calm.

"What does it matter?"

"Then tell us," Monica/Sky remarked.

"John Smith," Alice/Sky replied for him, but the others weren't convinced.

"His real name," Hobbes/Sky shook his head disbelievingly.

"She's lying," Biff/Sky noticed, "Look at her face."

"His eyes are the same as hers," Val/Sky gasped.

"Why won't you tell us?!" Jethro/Sky asked.

"He's been lying to us, right from the start!" Val/Sky shouted.

"No-one's called John Smith!" Biff/Sky scoffed, "Come off it!"

Everyone started to talk over eachother once again and the Time Lord iterrupted before it would get anymore intense as it had before.

"Now listen to me," the Doctor/Sky yelled angrily over them, "Listen to me right now! Because you need me, all of you, if we're gonna get out of this, then you need me!"

"So you keep saying!" Hobbes responded with a roll of his eyes, as Alice eyes suddenly widened realising something was off straight away, "You've been repeating yourself more than her."

"If anyone's in charge, it should be the Professor, he's the expert!" Val nodded, as the young Noble let go of the Doctor's hand without him noticing and slowly turned to face where Sky was...not saying a word.

"Mum, stop, just look..." Jethro agreed, whilst having noticing what the red head has seen.

"You keep out of this, Jethro," Biff scolded his son.

Now Alice finally decided to speak up, "Oi!" she hollered, having the same effect on the others like before, "If you could just shut your traps and stop putting the blame on my man for a second and just look at her!"

"Look at her!"

Finally understanding what was going on the rest turned around to face Sky, who was still as a statue.

"She's stopped..." Dee Dee breathed.

"When did she...?" the Doctor/Sky trailed off, his mouth in sync with hers, "No, she hasn't, she's still doing it."

"She looks the same to me..." Val started, her eyes now widening, "No, she's stopped! Look, I'm talking, and she's not!"

"What about me, is she...?" Biff began, "Look! Look at that! She's not doing me, she's let me go!"

"Mrs Silvestry?..." Monica asked, "Nor me! Nothing!"

"Sky?" Alice asked, just making sure but wasn't repeated either, "No nothing."

"Sky? What are you doing?" the Doctor/Sky eyed her as he took a step towards her. Alice suddlenly stopped him by grabbing his hand and he looked back at her. Saying nothing, she squeezed his hand tightly.

"She's still doing him!" Dee Dee shouted.

"Doctor, it's you," Hobbes stated with a gasp, "She's only copying you."

"Really? We hadn't noticed," the red head bit back sarcastically, fear in her voice. One she didn't know that her boyfriend noticed.

"Why me?" the Doctor/Sky demanded as he looked at the woman, "Why are you doing this?"

"She won't leave him alone!" Dee Dee frowned.

"D'you see?!" Val exclaimed triumphantly, "I said so, she's with him."

"They're together!" Biff nodded in agreement.

"How d'you explain it, Doctor?" Hobbes asked in remark, "If you're so clever."

"I don't know," the Doctor/Sky shook his head, "Sky, stop it. I said stop it. Just stop it!

Hearing the Doctor shout like that made Alice flinch ever so slightly. Walking closer with her to Sky he let his hand slide out of hers.

"Doctor, please don't!" Alice protested as she followed behind him. She didn't want him to get hurt as she felt her heart pounding hard against her chest.

"Look at the two of them!" Val stated, as the young Noble shot a threatning glare over her shoulder.

"Mrs Silvestry," the Doctor/Sky said crouching down before her looking into her eyes as Alice stood behind him, "I'm trying to understand. You've captured my speech, what for? What d'you need? You need my voice in particular. The cleverest voice in the room. Well, that's not true, Ally she's smarter than me anyday of the week. So why? Cos I'm the only one who can help? Ohh, I'd love that to be true. But your eyes. They're saying something else. Listen to me. Whatever you want, if it's life, or form, or consciousness, or voice, you don't have to steal it. You can find it without hurting anyone. And I'll help you. That's a promise. So. What d'you think?"

In the blink of an eye, a sudden unkown force brought Alice to her knees. Her entire body felt numb and she could't move anything. Like not at all. But one thing she did have control over was her thoughts.

Only two came to mind. One, she had been taken over by the entity that was in Sky, and finally the other was begging for help.

The Doctor's to be precise.

The Time Lord waited for something to happen. Honestly, he didn't know what he was actually waiting for. Maybe for the being to take over his body, leaving him unable to move, like Sky had been. But it never happened. He frowned in confusion, leaning closer to Sky. Just only, for her to blink, making him reel backwards.

"Do we have a deal?" Sky spoke, as to the Doctor's horror, the familiar voice of his mate repeated her.

"Do we have a deal?"

In a flash he got to his feet and whirled around. There was Alice kneeling on the floor, frozen with her eyes wide opened like Sky's had been. In her eyes he could see the fear, even though she couldn't move. Anger ignited within the Time Lord, the kind that earned him the title of the Oncoming Storm.

A snarl was threatening to pass his lips as his hands became fists, knuckles going white. This was never meant to happen! It was supposed to be him there! Not the woman he loved, his best friend, besides Donna. He can't lose Ariana, not again. He now stumbled back slightly but regained composure, running his hands over his face and through his hair in pure frustration.

"Hold on, did she...?" Dee Dee asked with a shuddering breath, realising what might be happening.

At this the Doctor's lips curled into a snarl. "Yes!" he barked, making everyone jump at the anger in his voice.

"She spoke first," Jethro nodded.

"She can't have," Val shook her head not beliving it.

"She did!" Hobbes exclaimed.

"She spoke first!" Jethro repeated in agreement.

"Oh, look at that, I'm ahead of you," Sky smirked slightly, head tilted.

"Oh, look at that, I'm ahead of you," Alice repeated.

The dam he'd been holding closed, broke and he snarled aggressively at Sky, "Let her go!"

"Ally," he breathed, as he ran to her side, getting her head to turn away from Sky but it was frozen in place.

"Did you see?" Hobbes pointed, "She spoke before she did! Definitely!"

"She's copying her,"Jethro realised.

"Doctor, what's happening?" Hobbes turned to look at the Doctor who now knelt before his girlfriend.

He glared back at the man, "What do you think Professer?!" he sneered letting his anger get the better of him, "She's taken over my girlfriend! She should of taken me! Not her! Not Alice!"

"He's right," Sky agreed, slowly manoeuvring to her feet.

"He's right," that definitely wasn't his Alice saying this. She would never say he was.

"It's taken her. I think it's letting me go."

"It's taken her. I think It's letting me go."

"What do you mean?" Dee Dee questioned with a shake of her head, "Letting you go from what?"

"So she's repeating now, it was her all along!" Biff exclaimed, before apologising to the Doctor, "Sorry mate."

But the Time Lord just ignored him, "Why Alice?" he demanded Sky, "Why not me instead?" Only for his question to be ignored, sparking his anger again as he growled, "Tell me!"

"They're separating," Jethro's eyes's widened in realisation.

"Mrs Silvestry?" Hobbes asked as he tentatively stepped towards her, "Is that you?"

"Yes, yes, it's me," she offered in whisper.

"Yes, yes, it's me," from looking in Alice's eyes, she was doing her best to fight the creatures control over her but had none and it broke the Doctor's hearts.

"I'm coming back, listen..."

"I'm coming back..."

"It's me!"

"...listen. It's me!" Alice repeated out of sync, fighting back as she sat there kneeling on the floor motionless.

The Time Lord shook his head, Alice...was in there somewhere! Fighting off the being inside whatever it was. She was tough as old boots and he knew she wouldn't let anyone take her.

Sky slowly starts moving her head and hands, looking at them, inspecting them, though it seemed to the Doctor watching her with curious eyes was more than displeased in a 'I've got my body back' manner but rather 'oh look at this interesting body I'm in' sort of way.

"Like it's passed into the Alice..." Jethro now murmured, "It's transferred. Whatever it is, it's gone inside her."

"Ally?" he whispered turning back, almost pleading, "Ally, can you hear me?"

"No, that's not what happened," Dee Dee shook her head in disagreement. Having seen something the in Sky the others clearly haven't.

"But look at her!" Val protested gesturing to Sky.

"Look at me, I can move..."

"Look at me..."

"I can feel again..."

"I can move... I can feel again..." for a few seconds the Doctor frowned.

"Alice..." the Doctor whispered, eyes widening noticing the repetition is going out of sync. She was resisting it! Ariana was helping her fight it he just had this feeling she was.

"I'm coming back to life..."

"I'm coming back to life..."

"And look at her, she can't move," Sky briefly glanced at the Time Lord, smirking at the glare he was boring into her, knowing that the others couldn't see with her back facing them.

"And look at her, she can't move."

"Help me," she turned to face the others.

"Help me."

"Professor?" she looked to the older man.

"Professor?"

"Get me away from her," holding out her hand for him to take.

"Get me away from her."

"Please."

"Please."

Cautiously Hobbes brushed past the Doctor and avoiding any kind of contact with Alice to pull Sky up gently and away from the red head, as she joined the rest of the group at the rear of the shuttle.

"Ohh thank you," Sky looked at him gratefully with a smile that seemed a little put on to the Doctor.

"Ohh thank you."

"They've completely separated," Jethro remarked with a mutter.

"It's in her, d'you see?" Biff pointed at the red head, "I said it was him all the time," the Doctor glanced over seeing the way he was looking at her making his insides twist with pure hatred. Nobody could look at Ally like that. Even if she was such a loud, smart and sarcastic, inside she was good as gold. Such a sweet and emotional human being. She put her whole heart out there with feeling, even when sometimes she finds it to hard to express it. But with him she never had to. When you could see it clearly as day in those beautiful warm brown eyes.

"She's free!" Val gave her a hug, "She's been saved!" the Doctor looked back into Alice's frightened eyes.

"Oh, it was so cold," Sky began with a sigh.

"Oh, it was so cold."

"I couldn't breathe,"Sky looked to the Time Lord briefly an evil glint in her eyes. She was going to tell the Doctor who was so besotted with this woman just what she was suffering.

"I couldn't breathe..." Alice whispered, breathing shallow voice trembling her eyes misting over. Even the Time Lord started to tear up swallowing harshly from the lump in his throat. He hadn't been like this since he lost Rose.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry."

"I must've scared you so much."

"I must've scared you so much."

Val instantly gave Sky another hug smoothing a hand over her hair, "No, no, it's all right,I've got you, ohh, there you are my love, it's gone, everything's all right now."

"I wouldn't touch her if were you," the Doctor warned, brushing his emotions aside for a moment to focus on the matter at hand. Getting to his feet turned around narrowing his gaze at Sky, who just stared right back at him as if she was smirking. He just couldn't trust her, when that thing wasn't inside her anymore, well that's what it looked like. He wasn't a 100% sure anymore.

"But it's gone, she's clean, it passed into her."

"That's not what happened," Dee Dee shook her head in disagreement.

"Thank you for your opinion, Dee, but clearly, Mrs Silvestry has been released," Hobbes brushed her off.

"No..."

"Just leave her alone!" Val snapped pulling Sky back, "She's safe, isn't she? Jethro? It's let her go, hasn't it?"

He nodded, "Think so, yeah," giving Sky a once over, then Alice, "Looks like it. Professor?"

"I'd say, from observation..." Hobbes nodded, "Alice can't move, and when she was possessed, she couldn't move, so..."

"Well, there we are then! Now the only problem we've got is Alice," Biff took a step forward towards the red head, which in turn set the Doctor right off.

"You keep away from her!" he snapped defensively at him, standing in front of his mate protectively. A heated glare on his face, one that made his enemies tremble, "I you dare touch her..." But he can't even finish the threat as he didn't know what he would do if Biff land a hand on Alice. Nothing good will come out of it especially when he got angry.

Biff glared right back at him with his mouth partly opened about to respond only for Sky to break the tension.

"It's inside her head," Sky moved about the room moving her arms slightly as she spoke.

It's inside her head."

"It killed the driver."

"It killed the driver."

"And the mechanic."

"And the mechanic."

"And now it wants us."

"And now it wants us."

"I said so!" Val exclaimed triumphantly.

"She's waited so long," Sky glanced over at the Doctor.

"She's waited so long."

"In the dark," she smirked only to him, "And the cold."

"In the dark. And the cold."

But the Time Lord said nothing as he glared at Sky, trying to make heads and tails of this. Nothing was making sense to him anymore. It frustrated him. Especially if that meant he couldn't help someone he loved.

"Stop, oh, my God, make her stop, someone make her stop!" Val cried pulling at her hair.

"But she's saying it!" Dee Dee tried to make them see sense but nobody would listen.

"And you can shut up!" Val snapped at the young woman abruptly.

"But it's not her, it's Sky, she's just repeating!" Dee Dee argued back defensively. Soon as she had said this, it all came full circle for the Doctor. It was Alice thinking all those things and Sky was just repeating it out loud.

"But that's what the thing does, it repeats!"

"Just let her talk!" Monica cut in agreeing with the point Dee Dee was making.

"What do you know? Fat lot of good you've been!"

"Just let her explain!" Monica cut in again.

Taking a deep yet nervous breath Dee Dee started to explain, "I think... I mean, from what I've seen... it repeats, then it synchronises, then it goes on to the next stage and that's exactly what the Doctor said would happen!"

"What, and you're on their side?" Biff flashed a glare at the Doctor and Alice.

"No!"

"The voice is the thing!" Jethro added.

"And she's got her voice!" Dee Dee exclaimed, "She stole it! Look at her!"

The Time Lord did and found that Sky was smirking widely.

"She stole it. You look at her. She's not possessed, it's draining her."

Looking to Alice he couldn't help but notice now how pale her complexion was now getting by the minute.

"She's got her voice..." Monica muttered in understanding.

"But that's not true, cos it can't, because I saw it pass into him, I saw it with my own eyes!" Val seemed to disagreed.

"So did I!" Biff agreed with his wife.

"You didn't!"

"It went from her, to her," Val glared at Dee Dee before turning to her son, "You saw it, didn't you?"

"I don't know..."Jethro shook his head unsure what to do.

"Oh, don't be stupid, Jethro, of course you did!"

"I suppose... she was right next to her..." he trailed off

"Everyone saw it, everyone!" Biff shouted.

"You didn't, you're just making it up!"Dee Dee challenged Biff, "I know what I saw, and I saw her stealing her voice."

"She's as bad as him, someone shut her up!"Val growled with a glare.

"I think you should be quiet, Dee," Hobbes began.

"Well, I'm only saying..."

Just like that he had the last straw, "And that's an order!" he bellowed at her, "You're making a fool of yourself! Pretending you're an expert in mechanics and hydraulics, when I can tell you, you are nothing more than average, at best! Now shut up!"

Dee Dee looked him, her feelings rather hurt and the Doctor was still keeping eye to eye with Sky, a satisfying smile on her face over the row she's caused.

"That's how she does it," Sky spoke up again.

"That's how she does it."

"She makes you fight."

"She makes you fight."

"Creeps into your head."

"Creeps into your head."

"And whispers."

"And whispers."

"Listen."

"Listen."

"Just listen."

"Just listen."

"That's her."

"That's her."

"Inside."

"Inside."

Biff shouted going red in the face "Throw her out!"

"Get her out of my head!" Val yelled.

"Yeah, we should throw her out!"

The Time Lord gave a low protective growl, "Don't think for a second you're throwing her out! Because you'll have to go through me first!"

"Why are you sticking up for her?!" Biff shouted at him, "She needs throwing out so we can be saved from whatever that thing is!"

"Well what do you know anyway?!" Val snarled, stepping towards him. Quickly turning in her husbands direction, "If he wants throwing out, fine by me! They can both go together! And don't just say you will do it, really do it! Stop being so useless all the time! And just do something!

"Alright I will! You watch! I'm gonna throw her out!" As Biff was about to snatch Alice away, the Doctor caught a glimpse of her just for a few seconds. She couldn't still move, but her eyes showed so much emotion on what was happening. One that stood out the most of all was fear. One that was rarely seen from her.

"Yes!" Sky called in agreement.

"Yes!"

"Throw her out!" Sky ordered.

"Throw her out!"

"Get rid of her!"

"Get rid of her!"

"Now!"

"Now!"

Biff plainly ignores the Doctor's warnings as he took hold of the red head from behind, which is the worst possible thing to of done. His hands on her made a rush of anger course through his veins and charged himself forward at the man, only for Jethro to hold him at bay as Biff pulled Ally towards the shuttle door. He struggled to get out of the boys grip snarling at the man.

"Let her go!" the Time Lord hollered.

"Don't!" Dee Dee pleaded sensing the Doctor's distress.

"It'll be you next!" Val warned pointing a finger at her.

"Don't think we should do this!" Monica spoke up now uncertain about doing this.

"It was your idea! Professor, help me," Biff called to the old man as he struggled with Alice.

"I can't..." he stuttered, "I - I'm not..."

"What sort of a man are you? Come on!" Stepping back, Hobbes now was unable to help because he just didn't know anymore. Thinking he was right about everything when he was wrong.

"Throw her out!"

"NO!" the Doctor snarled viciously, trying to struggle free from Jethro's grip. Both having noticed a trail of blood starting to come from Alice's nose. She was struggling in this fight but he knew that Ariana could push through and help her just a little more.

"Come on!"

"Just do it, throw her out!" Val shouted charging forwards to help her husband.

"Help! Professor, help me!"

"Get her out!" Val continued shouting.

"Grab hold of her!" Hobbes rather awkwardly grabbed Alice's hand whilst getting a telling off from Biff in the process, "Not like that! Are you stupid?!"

Sky seemed to enjoy what was happening as she smirked the whole way through, "Cast her out!"

"Cast her out!"

"Into the sun!"

"Into the sun!"

"I want her out!" Val yelled, joining in as the Doctor stopped his struggling and on in horror unsure what to do. He now noticed Alice was starting to have trouble breathing, breaths shallow body shaking with each one she took. But nobody seemed to notice or care

"And the night!"

"And the night!"

"Get her out!"

"Come on! Don't just stand there! Do something!" Val screamed at her husband.

"Get her out!"

"Do it!" Sky egged them on.

"Do it!"

"Do it now!"

"Do it now!"

"Faster!"

"Faster!"

"Just do it!" Val continued to her husband.

"That's the way!"

"That's the way!"

Jethro let go of the Doctor about to go join his father and gets pulled back on his by the Doctor, "Please don't help them!" he begged the teenager, "Alice is your friend!"

But without a care he tugged his arm away roughly. Going to help his father and Professor Hobbes with pulling Alice closer towards the door.

"You can do it!"

"You can do it!"

"Help!" Alice's voice suddenly shone through, calling out to the Time Lord now noticing her plea.

"Throw her out!" Val shouted on obviously not having heard the young woman's cry.

"Help me!" the red head called out stronger than before, trying to be heard.

"Get her out!"

"Please help!"

"Please help!"

Monica had seemed to notice this as much as the Doctor had, "That's her voice."

"The starlight waits!"

"She's taken her voice!" Monica tries to get her point across gesturing at the blonde, but she goes unnoticed.

"The starlight waits!"

"The emptiness!"

"The emptiness!"

"Get her out!" Val still went on.

"The Midnight sky!"

"The Midnight sky!"

"It's her. She's taken her voice!" Monica charged forward grabbed Sky pushed the button to the fire exit and the doors flew open, she was doing this for the young woman who deserved nothing more than to live. She ignored the screams, stood in the doorway, grasping Sky, "One, two, three, four, five, six..."

"No!" the Doctor shouted reaching out to help, but it's too late. Just as the pressure wall collapsed, Monica and Sky had been sucked outside, and the door slid back shut.

In that very moment, the men holding Alice let her go she fell on the ground to her knees, gasping for trying to breath again. She started uncontrollably sobbing harder than she ever did, like when Jenny had died. Curling into her body she started to mumble between sobs.

"It's gone, it's gone... It's gone, it's gone, it's gone... It's gone. It's gone... It's gone, it's gone, it's gone... It's gone, it's gone, it's gone..."

The Doctor finally moved over to his mate, "Ally..."

Hearing the familiar use of her nickname on her boyfriends lips, she looked up tears streaming like waterfalls down her cheeks, mascara smudged and eyes bloodshot from her crying, "It's really gone..." Alice continued sobbing and the Doctor pulled her into his lap wrapping his arms around her, not caring about the drying blood from her nose staining his clothes. Leaning back against one of the seats to comfort her.

Alice buried her face into his chest breathing his familiar cologne to calm her, as she felt his long fingers carding through her hair shushing in whispers. Other than the sobbing, everything had calmed down slightly and everyone was realising what they were about to do. While continuing to comfort his girlfriend, the Doctor looked up Val's eyes meeting his eyes.

"I said it was her..." she made to him with a feeble excuse. But he just ignored it completely going back to comforting Alice.

 _20 minutes later..._

Now, sat on the floor beside the Doctor Alice now had her face buried in her boyfriends shoulder and he had his arms wrapped around her, lost in nothing but dark depressing thoughts, along with the other passengers.

"Repeat, Crusader 50, rescue vehicle coming alongside in three minutes, door-seals set to automatic. Prepare for boarding, repeat, prepare for boarding."

"The Hostess... what was her name?" the Doctor finally spoke up breaking the silence.

They all look away rather ashamed.

"I don't know," Professor Hobbes whispered with a shake of his head.

"Monica..." Alice voice muffled into the Doctor's shoulder.

"What?"

Lifting up her head she stared disbelievingly at every single passage gazing back at her, "Monica...that was her name Monica..." tears coming to her warm brown eyes without acknowledging their response her face went back into the Doctor's shoulder. The Time Lord stared hard at them all before returning attention back to Alice, rested his head on top of hers closing his eyes tightly.

 _A couple of hours later..._

Alice sat straight up screaming later that night on from a terrifying nightmare.

She was back on Midnight again in that shuttle, fighting to gain control over the horrific monster inside her. She knew that she would probably having nightmares about this for weeks. There was always times when she was little, that she ended up sneaking into Donna's bed for comfort after nightmares and this was one of those times.

Sliding out of bed she went along the corridor to Donna's room and sneaked in quietly through the door. Feeling a dip in the bed, her sisters eyes met Alice's frightened face, already having been told what has happened before. Without saying a word, she gathered Alice into a comforting embrace burying her face into her Donna's chest, fighting back the tears threatening to spill out.


	27. Turn Left Part 1

It had been a few months since Midnight Alice and the Doctor had finally talked about it a couple of weeks ago. Because she hadn't been able to sleep since it happened. Although it helped to talk it out, she forced herself not to think about it. The traveling and having fun with her sister and boyfriend was the only thing preoccupying her thoughts to help her through it. They were making their way through an oriental marketplace on some alien planet, the streets are bustling with vendors selling this and that of oddities.

Alice was with her sister waiting for the Doctor to come back from one of the stalls, drinks in their hands. They hadn't been daring enough to have a taste of it yet until he got back. Coming back to join them he sniffed his fingers, earning a laugh from his mate.

Laughing as they walked down the alley together, the young Noble with an arm around her boyfriends waist. They looked so ridiculously in love together as Donna briefly glanced at them. Taking a break, they have a sip of the frothy drink in their hands.

"You are going to love this!" he reassured both the Nobles with a grin, "One, two, three..."

In sync, they swigged back the drinks coming back smacking their lips from the taste. Alice found it to be nice but different. Gazing up at the Doctor and Donna, seeing equally foamy moustaches on their upper lips, that she exploded into giggles.

"Oh, my God you both look so ridiculous," she continued to giggle as her sister squealed with laughter.

"Ah!" The Time Lord hummed appreciatively.

"You should take a look at yourself as well, Ally," Donna gestures to her lips.

"Hey, she looks fine to me," the Doctor tried offering kindly, kissing the top of his mates head affectionately. Whilst the young Noble wiped the creamy moustache off with the sleeve of her grey cardigan. Her sister grinned teasingly at her, as she rolled her eyes in response.

"Hate you so much sometimes!"

"Oh, never!"

The Doctor grinned widely, both the sister's giving him both equally playful shoves. Finished off their drinks and continued to casually stroll down the alley, browsing at everything around them.

"Why don't we split up and meet back here in hour," Alice suggests to her sister and boyfriend.

"Yeah sounds like a plan to me," Donna agreed with a nod and so did her sister linking their arms .

"Don't pout alright mister," letting go of Donna's arm briefly, she tiptoed pecking his lips sweetly leaving him in a slight daze, "Now go we'll see you in an hour."

"Where do fancy looking at next?" Alice pondered cheerfully to her big sister.

But she got interrupted before she could even answer, as a stall holder nearby asked them, "You want to buy Shukina?" he continued, as the young red head spots her boyfriend a few meters away inspecting some kind of fruit with spikes. "Or Peshwami? Most beautiful Peshwami in all of Shan Shen."

"Sorry, but we're good thanks," Alice declined in response, as her sister this time glanced over at the Doctor chatting away excitedly to a stall holder about the fruit.

"No thanks," Donna offered politely and continued on the way with her sister. But however, they didn't get very far, a Fortune Teller sitting outside her tent stopped them.

"Tell your fortune, ladies?" they turned to look at her. She was smiling, but something about it seemed a little off to the young Noble, "Your future predicted, your life foretold."

"No, sorry not interested," Alice offered nicely as she could, "Never believed in any of that stuff," a sore look comes across the Fortune Tellers face, as Alice added, "No offence by the way."

The sore look vanished from the ladies face and nodded to the young woman, "None taken," but the tone of her voice said otherwise. She changes the subject, looking to Donna, "What about you?"

"Ah, no thanks."

"Don't you want to know if you're going to be happy?"

In that moment, the sisters glanced back at the Doctor, smiled fondly at him then turned back, "I'm happy right now, thanks," no nothing makes Alice more happier right now in this moment right here. Her man the traveling Time Lord, Donna and herself in the Tardis. Forever and ever.

"Sorry, next time maybe," Alice added in kind as they make a start to leave.

"You've got red hair," the Fortune Teller called after them, "Reading's free for red hair."

The sisters shared a glance. Even though it's something the younger woman has never believed in. You can never turn something down for free. As the woman probably wouldn't of left them alone otherwise if they didn't go in. So with an agreed nod both went inside the tent, not seeing the Fortune Teller scoping the area with her eyes in a sinister fashion before following the Nobles inside.

"All right, then," Donna conceded with a laugh pulling her not so willing sister back over to the tent.

 **-Doctor Who-**

"So...who would like to go first?" the Fortune Teller asked, once the sisters were settled in seats across from her.

"I'll go," Donna offered, glancing at her sister seeing if she wanted to try it. But the young woman only responded with a shrug and a nod, not really bothered of which of them went first. Getting what she needed Donna held out her hands, the fortune teller taking them, turned them over to her palms caressed them with perfectly manicured fingers.

"You're fascinating," she started to remark with such awe, "Oh no, but you're good. I can see... a man."

Donna gave half laughed, nodding with slight agreement trying to believe the woman. Even Alice knew her sister well enough to tell what she was thinking.

"The most remarkable man. A man you both know," she glanced at the young red head who blushed, then both sisters, "How did both you meet him?"

"Well I thought we met at my sisters wedding but a year or so later she dragged me into her craziness met him and I the rest is history as you say,"

"You're supposed to tell me," Donna smirked cheekily.

"I see the future," the fortune teller brushed off, "Tell me the past. When did your lives cross?"

"It's sort of complicated," the oldest Noble half answered with a sigh before considering going into more detail, "I ended up in his spaceship on my wedding day."

There was clicking nearby that only the Fortune Teller and Alice seemed to have caught with their ears. But the young red head just plainly ignores it and the small tingling from her locket.

"But what led you to that meeting?"

"All sorts of things," Donna paused thoughtfully for a moment, "But my job, I suppose. It was on Earth... this planet called Earth, miles away. But I had this job as a temp. I was a secretary at this place called H.C. Clements," suddenly her body lurched forward which startled her sister with a jump.

Alice sees her sister staring into nothingness, face reading no emotion. Which in turn caused some concern as she reached out to touch her shoulder. Not barely having grazed her sister who jerked again breaking her trance, inhaling deeply whilst looking rather shaken.

"Are you alright?" the young Noble asked, voice seeping full with worry.

"I'm fine," the eldest Noble assured her sister, but Alice wasn't entirely convinced as her locket gave an unpleasant throb of heat against her chest. Like Ariana was warning her. So she said nothing as her sister returned back to the fortune teller, "Sorry."

"It's the incense," the Fortune Teller explained as she continued to caress Donna's hand again, "Just er...breathe deep."

Alice thought she could hear something close by making clicking noises but shook her head ignoring it.

"This job of yours - what choices led you there?"

There was a choice... six months before," Donna mentions, taking a deep breath, "The agency offered me this contract with H.C. Clements. There was this other job offer. My mum knew the man."

Alice remembered that day so clearly as if it were yesterday. She was down visiting from university that summer.

 _ **Flashback...**_

 _The young Noble was grumbling to herself dragging her feet on the ground following behind her mum and older sister out the house, messenger bag and a book she needed to revise in hand, "Why do I have go with you," she sighed moodily, "I'm an grown adult perfectly able of being home by herself."_

 _"Well because last time young lady you had a party nearly destroying everything in the house," Sylvia rolled her eyes at her daughter, "Not letting that happen again."_

 _Alice stared daggers at the back of her head, "It was one time and I was 16, mum."_

 _Outright ignoring her daughter and turning her attention to Donna, "Oh, I remember his name now. Jival, he's called. Jival Chowdry?"_

 _Donna didn't respond as the family got in the car. The young red head still staring at the back if her mother's head as she got in the back seat of the car._

 _"He runs a small photocopy business," Sylvia now informed her eldest daughter rather enthusiastically in chances of convincing her to take the job. Well good luck with that, mum. Alice had thought to herself, "And he needs a secretary."_

 _She saw that look cross her sister's face whenever their mother would nag at them, "I've-got-a job."_

 _"As a temp,"Sylvia pulled a face, "This is permanent. It's twenty thousand a year, Donna."_

 _"She doesn't want the job mum get that through your head," Alice stated firmly in opinion, "So what if she's a temp. It's what makes her happy that counts."_

 _"She never knows what she wants," her mother snorted with disagreement._

 _"Thanks," Donna returned sarcastically, putting her seatbelt on, "But I do alright, H.C. Clements is in the City. It's nice. It's posh. So, stop it," she turns the key in the ignition and they drove off._

 _ **End flashback...**_

Alice was pleased that her sister she never took that job. If it weren't for that she or her sister would have never met the Doctor

"Your life could have gone one way or the other," the Fortune Teller remarked to her, "What made you decide?"

"I just did," Donna shrugged without a seconds thought.

As the young red head looked around the room again for that clicking noise, but there was nothing it seemed she was the only that could hear it. Only once again did the locket throb unpleasantly a little harsher than before. Her hand going to touch it as a response.

"But when was the moment? When did you choose?"

 _ **Flashback...**_

 _Alice sat in the back seat of car music blasting through her earphones and her nose in an history text book just as they stopped at some traffic lights. She looked up briefly before turning a page._

 _A blue van drives past them as their mother nagged to Donna on about the job, "It won't take long, just turn right. We'll pop in and see Mr. Chowdry. Suzette can introduce you."_

 _"I'm going left," Donna exclaimed, clearly getting fed up with it, "If you don't like it, get out and walk."_

 _Sylvia ignored her daughters little outburst, "If you turn right, you'll have a career," she went on insisting, "Not just filling in."_

 _"You think I'm so useless!"_

 _The young red head looked up from hearing her sister just as she sees her mother mocking Donna with her eyes as the same went for her mouth, "I know why you want a job with H.C. Clements, lady - because you think you'll meet a man with lots of money and your whole life will change. Well, let me tell you, sweetheart: city executives don't need temps, except for practice."_

 _"What a lovely thing to say to your daughter," Alice muttered underneath her breath sarcastically, with a roll of her eyes. Not really caring that her mother probably heard it anyway._

 _The eldest red head didn't speak for a couple of long seconds, "Yeah. Well, they haven't met me," she then steered to go left._

 _ **End flashback...**_

"You turned left," the Fortune Teller nodded, tightening the grip on Donna's hands, "But what if you turned right? What then?"

The young Noble sees her sister shaking just as her locket sends out a burst of intense heat making a silent gasp escaping her lips. The last time it had burned like that was Pompeii. This was so much more than a warning now.

"Let go of my hands," Donna pleaded as her voice shook.

"What if it changes? What if you go right? What if you could still go right?" the Fortune Teller pressed on harder, hands still gripping Donna's tightly.

"Hey, leave my sister alone!" Alice snapped angrily, as she pulled her sister forcefully away. She gasped loudly at the raw intense pain that suddenly shot through the locket and onto her head like she was being split open.

The eldest Noble snapped towards her sister hearing her pain, eyes scrunched shut and hands fiercely gripping her head, "Ally!" her eyes flashed angrily at the Fortune Teller, "Stop this! Whatever voodoo magic your doing stop it!" She was scared for her and Alice's lives just as and the young Noble was too. Something suddenly made her freeze as she whispered in fright, "What's that?"

Pain having eased a little Alice's ears weren't deceiving her this time. The clicking was very close like it was coming from behind her sisters back. Only to take a glance behind to find nothing there.

"What's on my back?!

But the Fortune Teller doesn't reply, only but stares intense eyes fixed in a greedy stare.

"What is it?! What-what's on my back?!" She looked to Alice questionably this time.

"I...I don't know Don," she gasped, as another sharp pain traveled through her head, "There...there isn't anything there!"

"Make the choice again, Donna Noble. And change your mind," the Fortune Teller ordered of her viciously ignoring the sisters, "Turn right!"

"I'm turning..." Donna whispered, entranced.

"Turn right. Turn right."

Another flash of pain hits Alice like a pile of bricks, hearing the words echoing from the lips of the Fortune Teller again as she passed out...

"Turn right..."

 **-Doctor Who-**

"Let me tell you, sweetheart: city executives don't need temps, except for practice," Sylvia nagged on mockingly at her eldest daughter.

"What a lovely thing to say to your daughter," Alice muttered underneath her breath sarcastically, with a roll of her eyes. Not really caring that her mother probably heard it anyway.

Donna actually thought it through only for a mere few seconds and sighed deeply, "Yeah. S'pose you're right."

The young Noble's eyes widened in surprise at her sister actually agreeing on something with their mother for once. Spookily enough that never happened. But she said nothing of it as Donna turned right.

Even if she didn't say anything, an uneasiness settled in the pit of her stomach that somehow this decision would change everything...

 _ **Christmas 2007**_

A certain young red head was twirling her hair seductively as she stared at the very attractive bartender, leaning with her hand giving flirty smiles. Sipping the fruity cocktail now and then. It was a Christmas party and a celebration after all having a few drinks seemed to take the edge off for her getting through another Christmas, being with her family, having arguments with her mother, the exception was made for her sister inviting her to her work do. Seeing she had no other plans than to get hammered.

"Hey, gorgeous..." Alice purred flirtatiously, gesturing to her empty glass, "Send another once of these bad boys my way..."

"Got ID then, love."

"Come on, no need to ID me again is there..." she pouts innocently, using a free hand she trailed her fingers down his chest, fluttering her eyelashes while she's at it, "Can you just make an exception? I'll even make it worth your while," now giving him a playful smirk, only for him to roll his eyes at the young woman.

"Sorry, I can't bar policy..." he turned down bluntly, "Don't show me ID you don't get a drink, so I'll have to ask you to leave," the man turned his back to her and she huffed moodily rolling her eyes.

"Whatever mate," she snapped at him, "The sex wouldn't have been that great anyway," Alice casually tossed her red locks over her shoulder and marched off. She returned to the table with Donna's friends muttering and grumbling to herself.

It had only been a couple of minutes when she hears her sisters loud obnoxious voice call out, "Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"

Donna barged herself through the crowds with a tray of drinks. Making the young Noble perk up in excitement. Looked as though there was plenty of drinks to go around for them all. Oh how Alice loved her big sister!

She finally makes it over, "There we are!" she offered cheerfully, "Feed at the trough," handing out the drinks placing Alice's before her, "Don't tell mum I let you have anymore, or she'll flip her lid!"

The young red head nodded enthusiastically, "My lips are sealed!" she mimicked a zip across her mouth, "Thanks sis!"

"Mooky says let's go to the Boardwalk," her friend Veena mentioned soon as she sat down as Alice took a massive sip of her drink, "It's two for the price of one."

"Christmas Eve? It'll be heaving."

"Exactly!" Mooky agreed with her Donna, "Get in and grab 'em."

They all burst out laughing, Donna being the loudest one out of them. But Alice was the only one not laughing, busy enjoying another delicious cocktail. She wouldn't of laughed about it anyway.

"Hey, that's the second round of drinks you've bought," Veena noticed looking at the tray, "It was my turn!"

"Well no need to get upset over it," the young red head mentions, swallowing some drink down, "Be glad you don't have to pay for it."

Only Veena ignored her, like Donna's friends always did. They had found her rather annoying when she tagged along to things. But Alice didn't give a damn what they thought about her. She never did.

"I can afford it," Donna smirked with pride, "Promotion. You are talking to Jival Chowdry's personal assistant, I'll have you know. Capital P, capital A, twenty-three-thousand pounds per annum, merci beaucoup!"

Her friends and sister beamed, happy of her news. Alice was extremely proud of her sister of course she was, having mentioned the job to her, somehow though it gave her this very unsettling feeling. But she had no idea why.

Veena grinned raising her glass in a toast, "Here's to Mr Chowdry!"

Well all except for Amber, another of Donna's many friends who Alice mostly got along well with, joined in with the toast, "Mr Chowdry!"

"She gets all the luck..." Mooky mumbled.

Both the sisters notice that Amber never joined the toast. Which was rather a concern for the young Noble, since they knew each other well. It's just that she didn't like the way she was staring at Donna's shoulder.

Alice went to squeeze the woman's shoulder and who looked back at her rather bewildered, "What's wrong?"

"Sorry?" Amber apologised eyes blinking.

"Has someone spilled a drink on me?" Donna asked with a frown, concerned for herself. Straining to look over her own shoulder, "Why do you keep looking at my shoulder? What's wrong?"

"I don't know," she whispered with wide nervous eyes.

The eldest Noble rolled her eyes with disbelief, "Oh, don't tell me you're getting all spooky again. It was bad enough when you saw the ghost of Earl Mountbatten at the Boat show. What are you looking at? What is it?"

"It's like... it's like there's something I can't see!"

Donna stares at her, unsettled, while Alice gazed oddly at her back for a few seconds. There wasn't anything there that she could see. Maybe Amber had a bit too much drink.

"Shut up, all of you!" A man, suddenly burst through the pub doors, "Come and see! Just look at the sky!" it went completely silent everyone focusing on the excited man, "It's a star! A Christmas star!" He rushed off out the door with everyone following behind him.

"Come on, then," Veena got up and rushed out. The sisters following after her and everybody else.

 **-Doctor Who-**

Alice, Donna and her friends had all gathered outside the pub with a crowd of other people as they peered up at the night sky. Where coincidentally enough, a large star was drifting across the rooftops of London, but to the young Noble it nothing like one.

"What the hell is that?" Mooky gasped continuing to stare.

"Ken Livingston, that's what!" Alice heard Veena scoff following with a laugh, "Spending our money on decorations. I mean, how much did that cost?"

"Don't be so stupid, it's flying! It's really flying!"

They hurry around the corner to keep the star in sight.

"That's not a star," Donna shook her head,

"It's a giant web," the young Noble realised staring at it a little harder.

Donna agreed with a nod, "It's heading east... the middle of the City."

"But why would it go there?" Alice questioned to herself.

The webbed star comes to a halt, above the busy streets. Suddenly, beams of electricity fired from its points, attacking people nearby, destroying buildings. Everyone is screaming and running away in fear, except the Noble sisters who are frozen in shock to make an escape. They couldn't understand what the hell was going on.

Alice sensed that somebody else wasn't screaming, as she turned to look at her, "Amber, what on Earth is the matter with you?" she got no response as she saw her staring at Donna's back again.

"Amber," Donna snapped at the blonde woman, "There's a great big web-star thing shooting at people, and you're looking at me?"

"There's something on your back," she gasped in terror, before suddenly running away from the sisters before they could even speak.

The young red head frowned after her, "Blimey, must have had a lot to drink," she chuckles. She looked to Donna who was no longer there beside her, "Don?" she glanced around for a couple of seconds before spotting her running in direction of the star, "Donna!" she chased after her sister down the street in her heels.

"Donna! Alice! Where are you going? You're going to get yourself killed! Donna! Alice!" Veena screamed after the sisters as they ran. But they were long gone.

Having caught up with Donna they had ran into the middle of the action. The web above burst into roaring flames and shattered apart when they reached it.

"Everyone stay back!" an armed solider in a red cap ordered, as the small crowd gathered, "The Thames has been closed. Return to your homes," the sisters joined into the crowd, looking around it was absolute chaos, "Keep away from the river - and that's an order."

Donna took Alice's hand and looked to her, "Let's have a closer look."

Nodding in agreement the sisters sneaked and weaved through cars to get closer, an ambulance was positioned a few feet away. It's then they hear an UNIT officer speaking on his radio.

"Trap One to Greyhound Fifteen: what is your report? Over."

"From the evidence, I'd say he managed to stop the creature," Alice heard the officer standing by the tank responding, "Some sort of red spider. Blew up the base underneath the barrier, flooded the whole thing. Over."

"And where is he now? Over."

There was nothing but silence for a least a few minutes, "We found a body, sir. Over."

Soon as words left the officers mouth, a stretcher, with a body covered in a red blanket, was being wheeled towards the ambulance.

For some reason Alice just stared at the body, not being able to tear her eyes away from it, and she had no idea why. While continuing to do so, an arm clad in a brown pinstriped suit dropped out the side of the stretcher.

Out of nowhere emotions came flooding over her as a ice cold shiver travelled right down her spine and throughout her entire body. Hand covering her mouth as she gasped, eyes filling up with unknown tears.

"Ally...are you actually crying?" Donna questioned, shocked at her sisters reaction. She couldn't blame her seeing as Alice wasn't known for crying much.

"No..no don't be silly...had dust in my eye that's all," the young Noble mumbled in excuse, wiping her eyes. She had just cried for no apparent reason.

"The Doctor is dead," the officer continued on the walkie-talkie, "Must have happened too fast for him to regenerate," the stretcher gets loaded into the ambulance as the bodies hand dropped something metallic on the ground.

"Escort the ambulance back to UNIT base."

Out of nowhere Alice felt unshed tears slipping down her cheeks, as she gazed at the ambulance doors closing. She shook her head internally for being so weak and hurriedly wiped her eyes before Donna would notice them again, knowing well she already had. However no comment was made which she was thankful for.

They slowly turned, walking away from the scene. Only getting a few feet a frantic blonde girl in runs past them in the opposite direction.

"What happened? What did they find?" the girl asked hurriedly sounding rather breathless. Taking a deep breath she looked to the two red headed women, "Sorry, did they find someone?"

"I don't know," Donna frowned, "Um, bloke called the Doctor or something."

It made the young girls eyes brighten up with joy as she looked around her, "Well, where is he?" she pressed not seeing the person she was looking for anywhere.

"They took him away. He's dead," Donna offered more bluntly than she meant, just as she saw the light of happiness leaving the blondes eyes who stared back disbelievingly at her.

"Uh...did you know him then?" Alice asked out of curiosity, "This Doctor person?"

Only it seemed the girl hadn't heard her as she shook her head and looked away in utter dismay.

"I mean... they didn't say his name..."Donna tried to give the young woman some reassurance, "It could be any doctor..."

"I came so far..."Alice heard her whispering sadly.

Donna reached out and touched the woman's arm in comfort, "It could be anyone."

Only the blonde looked as though she's only just seen her, "What's your name?" she now asked, blanking Alice who thought it was quite rude.

"Donna. And you?"

The woman doesn't respond, seeming that something has distracted her. The young Noble sees her staring at Donna's back, like Amber had done. Like the very thing she had been distracted over.

"Oh, I was just... passing by," the blonde tried to make her staring less obvious, but Alice could tell she was doing a bad job at it, "I shouldn't even be here, this is... wrong. It's wrong. This is so wrong," she shakes her head and paid attention to the sisters before her, "Sorry, what was it? Donna what?"

"Why do you keep looking at my back?"

"I'm not," the blonde tried averting her eyes.

Alice snorted disbelievingly as she looked at her for the time. Opening her mouth about to comment on something, but gets interrupted by her sister who is glaring at her.

"Yes, you are," Donna insisted angrily at her, "You keep looking behind me. You're doing it now," she strained to inspect her back, "What is it? What's there? Has someone put something on my back?"

Turning back the blonde had gone. Completely vanished out of thin air. Alice didn't see her leaving because she didn't even bother to look. Bewildered by everything at this moment, the sisters both headed back home.

But one thing was bothering the young Noble as they walked, questioning herself internally about the blonde. About who she was. Also the niggling feeling in the back of her mind told her it probably wouldn't be the last of her either.


	28. Turn Left Part 2

**_March 2008_**

Alice was leaning back against the sofa sat between her sister and dear old Gramps watching BBC News 24 about what happened earlier today. It was about the Royal Hope Hospital, which had vanished early this morning. Apparently, the whole building got transported to the moon and everyone else had perished... except for one survivor.

"To confirm, the Royal Hope Hospital was returned to its original position," the news reporter informed, "But with only one survivor. The only person left alive is medical student Oliver Morgenstern."

Honestly the young Noble was only half listening to it. But in that moment something jumped out at her.

"Martha. Martha Jones."

 _'Please don't fight. I can't bear fighting.'_

 _'No, no, no. He's said nice things, good things. Nice things. Really good things.'_

She shook her head slightly because it sounded so familiar, that she frowned slightly, trying to puzzle out where she heard it before. But for the foggiest she just couldn't place her anywhere. Hearing the woman's name from Morgenstern had definitely got her attention.

"And...and she died..."

Alice felt a familiar ice cold shiver go through her, like that night at The Thames a few months ago. She felt like crying, but forcefully held it back. Why cry? Why cry over somebody you've never met? Feeling like she was suffocating, she stood up and headed to the kitchen to get herself a drink of water.

"At least you got a hole-punch," their mother commented as she walked past, taking Donna's work stuff out of a box. Having her gotten fired from work earlier that day, that coincidentally happened when the hospital vanished. But off course Alice never said it to her face, she was just glad Donna wasn't working there anymore, "And a raffle ticket."

Donna gave a roll of her eyes, "Yeah, well they can keep the raffle. I wouldn't take a penny off that man."

"Honestly, you two-- there's aliens on the news!" Gramps reprimanded giving his daughter and Donna a good stare as the youngest looked on, taking a sip of water, "They took that hospital all the way to the moon and you're banging on about raffle tickets!"

"Don't be daft, Gramps. It wasn't the moon! It couldn't be."

"Yes, well, I'm telling you - it's getting worse. These past few years, it's like, all of a sudden, they suddenly know all about us and... there's keen eyes up there and they're not friendly."

"This stapler says 'Bea'," Sylvia muttered, examining a label on the stapler.

Donna over to her mother, "Can't believe how well you're taking it, me getting sacked," she comments, "Thought you'd hit the roof."

"Or blown up at her," the young Noble added, finishing off her water and rejoining her Gramps and sister on the sofa. At least she had her receptionists job at Adipose Industries which she started recently after finishing University to help keep the family afloat.

 _'Is it always like this with you?'_

 _'Oh, yes. And off we go!'_

"I'm just tired, Donna, what with your father and everything. To be honest, I've given up on you," their mother voiced with disappointment. Leaving Donna to look away feeling nothing but guilt.

Alice shook her head having spaced out for a few seconds. She looked to her older sister with a frown and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders, causing her to lean into her slightly.

"... This further report just in, from Oliver Morgenstern."

Turning the families attention back to the tv.

"There was this woman who took control," Oliver spoke, "Who said she-- she knew what to do, said she could stop the MRI or something-- Sarah Jane, her name was. Sarah Jane Smith."

It went back to the reporter, "Sarah Jane Smith was a freelance investigative journalist formally of Metropolitan Magazine."

Pictures of the woman Sarah Jane Smith appeared on screen. The young Noble noticed she was quite a pretty woman, with long brunette hair paired with bangs and brown eyes. A little younger than her mother but not by much.

"Her body was recovered from the hospital late this afternoon. Miss Smith had a son called..."

"What's for tea?" Donna asked her mother, breaking the attention away from the depression of the news.

"I've got nothing in."

"I'll get chips," Alice finding the happiness a little forced, "Last of my wages. Fish and chips, yeah?"

Smile falling when neither her Gramps or mother respond, both rather occupied with other things. But Alice was more than happy to give her sister an answer.

"Sounds great Don, can't say no to a bit of fish and chips," the young Noble starts to get up, "Want me come?"

She declines her sisters invitation, "I'm fine Ally I'll just go. Need some time to myself anyway," Standing up Alice watches her leave the living room, only a few minutes later, the front door slammed shut.

Though what she could gather from what Donna had said and the way it was said told her that she wanted her to come but didn't want to admit it. Alice, now stood up and informed her Gramps and mother she was going after her sister.

Having not gotten far Alice had caught up with her sister, who she found with someone already. The familiar blonde from Christmas Eve a few months back. Overhearing some of their conversation.

"A nice hotel... Christmas break?" She heard the blonde suggesting.

"Can't afford it."

The tone now eager in the woman's voice as she spoke, "Well, no, you've got that raffle ticket."

Alice's eyes widened about how she knew that.

"How do you know about that?" Donna asked exactly what she was thinking.

"First prize... luxury weekend break," the blonde offered emphatically, "Use it, Donna Noble.

She sees her sister responding rather coldly, staring at the woman, "Why won't you tell me your name?" But she gets nothing as she started circle her threateningly, glaring at her in a hostile manner, "I think you should leave me alone."

Donna walked away, not having noticed her sister standing there. A sudden protectiveness coursed through Alice's veins as she charged over to the woman before she could even leave. Grabbing the blonde firmly by the arm she looked startled but not at all surprised. As the she glared back at her.

"Right Barbie, I don't know who you are," she intended the nickname with insult, "What your deal is with my sister, so stay the hell away from her, are we clear?"

She didn't dignify a response to the red head for a few moments, eyes glancing over until they rested on the intricately circular patterned locket. Her eyes flickered up to meet Alice's, the gaze filled with concern.

"Your head? Dose it hurt?"

Alice stared back at the woman having been freaked out, "Your, one seriously messed up chick," she turned walking away from the her and ignored the odd humming sound behind her, unaware that her hand was fiddling with the locket as a headache came...

 ** _Christmas 2008_**

Oddly enough, Donna found out that she had indeed won the raffle. For Christmas and all expenses paid. Just as the blonde woman had predicted. But Alice still found it rather strange, but her sister thought nothing of it. However, she did. Not trying to think much about it, like she should be glad, for once in her life, that they got to go on vacation for Christmas.

She stepped out of the car and gazed around at the surroundings. The place they were staying in was particularly nice. Big, fancy and in surrounding countryside, which made a change from being in the city, well it was nearly outside the city but it was nice.

Footmen were waiting outside for them. The young Noble gave a cheery wave, not one didn't return the gesture. Making her scowl a little over it thinking it rather rude of them.

"Cor, blimey - that's what I call posh!" Alice heard her Gramps exclaim with cheer, as she turned to see him unloading the car. On top his head he wore a pair of antlers, as Alice stifled a giggle. Honestly she thought her grandad was adorable, "I said you were lucky, didn't I?" he spoke proudly to Donna, "I always said, my lucky star!"

Her mother hushed quickly to him in whisper, "For God's sake, don't tell them we won it in a raffle. Be classy!" hearing her now scold lowly to him.

"It was not you or us that won the raffle Mother, it was Donna," Alice informed her.

No comment was given as she noticed the antlers on her fathers head, "Dad! Take those things off!"

"No, I shan't! It's Christmas," he retorted back, the sisters sharing a look of amusement as he stopped a footman grabbing his bag from the boot, "Oi, I'll have that one, thank you. It's got my liniment in it."

Alice shook her head looking to Donna, "Gramps sure is something, isn't he Don?" she giggled.

"Tell me something I don't already know Ally,"Donna laughed, slipping her arm through her sisters as they both strolled leisurely up the driveway with their Mum beside them, "It's been hell of a year."

It had been a bad year for them, with a Donna having been fired from her job and the sisters losing their Dad. Just the thought made Alice's gloss over with tears, but shook them away not wanting her mother or sister to see her in that state.

"Your dad would have loved this, girls," their mother sighed sadly.

The young Noble agreed with a nod, responding with a sad smile as she put an arm around her shoulders, "Yeah, he would have," she whispered. Sylvia returned an equally sad smile, her arm wrapping around her daughters waist and gave it a squeeze.

The next morning, Alice was in the bedroom comfortably reading a magazine as she fought back the yawn escaping her. It was far too early for her since she considered herself not a morning person, even though it was Christmas Day. A knocking on the door perked her up more, breakfast was here. She climbed out of bed in a hurry, making a beeline for the bathroom, that was across from the room she shared with Donna that was attached to the living room.

Where her sister was currently brushing her hair as she called out, "Oi, Gramps!" she yelled joyfully, "Get that! That'll be breakfast. Croissants!"

Alice walked past her sister in a pretty maroon dress flicking the back of her head playfully as she continued brushing her hair, "Don't be so lazy, sis!" she teased.

In response, Donna chucked a hand towel at her little sister who managed to dodge it, laughing back at her, "Shut up Ginger!" trying to sound angry about it, the grin on her face saying otherwise. That caused Alice to laugh a little harder. As her sister rolled her eyes.

Having cooled down from the hysterics the young Noble headed to the living room flopping into the bed beside her mother, "Ohh chocolate!" she voiced excitedly, trying to pinch one from the box in her mother was currently devouring as she watched the television. But got her hand slapped away, before she even got one, "Ah!" she whined with a pout, rubbing her sore hand.

"Get your own young lady!" Sylvia scolded her daughter.

"Says the woman eating chocolate for breakfast," Alice muttered quietly to her self internally rolling her eyes.

"Did you say something dear," her mother looked to her with a cheerful smile, before turning away from Alice who glared at the back of her head.

There's a knock on the door again.

"Why can't you get it, Lady Muck?" Wilfred grumbled to his daughter in complaint.

Who was dressed in a silk dressing gown flicking through the tv channels, "It's Christmas Day - I never get up before ten," now nodding her head towards Donna, "Only, madam there was up with the dawn chorus, like when she was six years old."

Which Alice knew of was true. Her sister was always up at the crack of dawn before anyone else in the family. Even when she and Donna had shared a bedroom when they were younger, she was up as well because her sister ended up waking her, even if she did complain about it. Wilfred sighed deeply as he rubbed his bleary eyes.

"I'm not wasting a second of this place," She told them enthusiastically, "How was the sofa?"

"Oh, yeah... not so good, really," Wilf groaned as he standing up, giving his back a massage.

"I can see that Gramps," Alice laughed, teasing him as he rolled his eyes but was still smiling as he went to answer the door.

"You know, we could have paid for a second room," he informed, "Oi!" he now whistled, pointing at Donna, "Merry Christmas!"

She chuckled pointing back at him, "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas!" the young Noble chimed with a grin.

"Merry Christmas, Dad," Sylvia grinned at her dad.

As she wasn't looking, Alice sneakily took a chocolate and popped it inside her mouth speedily. Only to get caught red handed.

"Alice Victoria Noble!"

The young red head gives her mother a sheepish look, "Sorry..."she mumbles whilst chewing. Before anything was said, there's another knock on the door.

"Yeah, all right, come in, my darling," Wilf called opening up the door, "Grub's up," he stands aside letting the maid through with their breakfast, "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas, sir!" the woman smiled, with a distinct Spanish accent.

"We have interrupted your programme to bring you breaking news," the tv announced cutting to a BBC reporter. Making Alice suddenly look across at the tv her mouth dropping open.

"Have you seen this?" Sylvia called, as her and her youngest watched the television, as the news report continued on, reading the captions, seeing the footage, growing more alarming as it went on.

But Donna seemed to oblivious of it continuing to brush her hair, "Because I thought, nice early breakfast and then we'll go for a walk. People always say at Christmas, "oh, we all went for a walk". I've always wanted to do that."

But Donna seemed to oblivious of it continuing to brush her hair, "Because I thought, nice early breakfast and then we'll go for a walk. People always say at Christmas, "oh, we all went for a walk". I've always wanted to do that.

Alice just couldn't tear her eyes away from the TV, almost caught in a trance. There was something vaguely familiar about it. A memory pops into her head, one she can't recall hearing about. But she knew clearly as anything who said it... her Gramps.

'The Titanic Ally! It was flying in the sky! The Titanic of all things!'

The young Noble shakes her head, the memory same like the others months before still made no sense to her. None of it did.

"So, walk first, presents later, yeah?" Donna asked her family cheerfully. Still not taking notice to what's happening on the TV.

"Donna, come and see,"Sylvia insisted to her eldest with a wave, her eyes still glued to the screen. As the youngest was still baffled about where she had heard or seen this before.

The maid called in alarm with wide-eyes, pointing at Donna's back, "Tienes algo en tu espalda!"

"What?" Donna frowned staring at the maid as if she's gone mad. As her little sister looked away from the TV to see what the commotion was. Seeing the Spanish maid shaking with absolute fear as she pointed at her, frantically speaking in her native tongue.

"Donna, look at the telly!" their mother shouted urgently, a hint of fear in her voice.

"Tienes algo en tu espalda!" The maid repeated exactly as before.

"What does that mean?" Donna shook her head in confusion, "I don't know what you're saying."

"We more things to worry about than translating Spanish Donna," Alice announced moodily. Just as another unknown memory is triggered with that unfamiliar voice again.

 _'...that's the TARDIS translation circuits. Just makes it look like English. Speech as well. We're talking Latin right now.'_

 _'Seriously? I can't believe I just said "seriously" in Latin!'_

Alice shook her head, when on earth had she spoke Latin before, maybe her dad had a little, like that phrase he used to say after they came back from a football match, he would say 'veni, vidi, vici!' before giving her a massive hug and going to get a cuppa from her mum afterwards.

"Donna, Ally, look at the TV!" Sylvia shrilled, now more frantic than ever.

Turning back to the screen, Alice's head began throbbing painfully. She winced massaging her temples hoping it will go away.

"Tienes algo en tu espalda!" The maid exclaimed fearfully once more before running out of the room. But the young Noble wasn't paying attention, her head was now getting much worse.

"For God's sake, Donna!" Sylvia yelled at her daughter, "Don't just stand there - come and look!"

The news reporter on the TV was now speaking solemnly, "It seems impossible, but this footage is live and genuine," now catching the whole rooms attention, except for Alice, who's headache was worsening by each second.

She grimaced as another shot of pain went through her head, having to close her eyes. Suddenly a flash of something came. The image of a man.

This man... was oddly familiar to her. His face completely blank, a tall but lean figure, dressed in a brown pinstriped suit with Converse trainers. He just felt familiar and strangely enough, his name was dancing on her tongue, but she just couldn't say it out loud.

But just like that the headache suddenly vanished and Alice slowly opened her eyes. And that very image of the man had just gone, wiped away like it never had happened at all. Although surprisingly it seemed time hadn't passed as she averted her gaze back to the TV.

"The object is falling on Central London. Repeat: this is not a hoax. A replica of the Titanic has fallen out of the sky and it's heading for Buckingham Palace."

The footage cutting live to the ship that looked exact as the Titanic in every way falling from the sky. It was hard not see that it's really happening, "We're getting this footage from the Guinevere range of satellites."

But Donna thought otherwise as she frowned with a gulp at the tv, "Is that... a film or something?"

"No...no it's not," the young Noble whispered, feeling her sisters eyes on her, "Well I don't think it..."

 _'Well, apart from that replica of the Titanic flying over Buckingham Palace on Christmas Day. That's got to be a hoax!'_

"Or possibly a... a hoax right?" Donna asked starting to get scared, fear rising through her. The niggling feeling in the back of her mind told her the ship should've stopped, diverted the Palace and taken back off into space, but no...it just...continued falling.

The ship was now mere feet above Buckingham Palace now.

"The Royal Air Force has declared anarchy..." the reporter is cut short. Just as the replica crashed, straight into the palace with the screen going white filling the room with white noise. Only seconds later, the whole hotel room shook from it's impact as they held on tightly to something.

"It's gone dead!" Sylvia pressing every button on the remote control frantically, every channel blank,"All of them."

Donna gave off a nervous smile from the absurdity of it all, "No, but the Titanic... well, don't be daft. Is that like a... sequel?"

Alice wanted to say something comforting or reassuring that it wasn't true. Just as she watched her grandad going to peer out through the window, pure revulsion crossing his features. She didn't want to know what for. But her curiosity got the better of her.

"Gramps..."the young red head slowly went over to him, "What's happened?"

He never gave his youngest granddaughter a reply, only a mumble of despair, "Oh... oh, God rest their souls..."

With slight hesitation, she came to stand behind her Gramps and gazed out at the window. Her heart dropped and she gasped covering her mouth, eyes widening in horror.

 **-Doctor Who-**

The Noble family gathered outside the hotel with the other terrified guests and members of staff a couple of minutes later. The angry dark mushroom cloud had replaced London, so big that you could barley see the sun...

 _...people, Roman people watching in horror as masses of cloud filled ash blocks the suns light..._

 _...panic and chaos in the streets as people fled the town screaming..._

 _...ash coming down like black rain as they ran through the streets..._

"No," Alice gasped, shaking her head trying to rid herself of memories she knows that shouldn't exist as her tears flowed freely, "Not again..."

The flashes of...memories...what were they? They had been coming and going for the past year. But this one was so powerful. It was like Alice had physically been there, dressed in a toga, in the middle of a Roman city, watching the sky turning pitch dark and the air filling with flurries of hot ash, suffocating her lungs...the sky growing darker, just like it was now as the cloud stretching higher into the atmosphere.

"I was supposed to be out there selling papers," Wilf whispered as he slshook his head, "I should have been there, we all should. We'd be dead."

"That's everyone,"Sylvia shook her head with uncomprehending, it was for everyone, "Every single person we know. The whole City."

"It can't be," Donna tried denying with a whisper, that this couldn't be it.

"But it is, it's gone! London's gone!"

Something then struck the young Noble in that moment, "Donna, the raffle ticket," she took a breath glancing over at her big sister and gazed back at her, mouth hitting the floor, the realisation clear. Before anything was said, Alice looked over her shoulder at the Spanish maid whose eyes are glued to her sisters back and Donna felt her looking as well.

The maid continued to glare at Donna, pointing her finger shaking her head in judgment.

All that Alice knew that woman was crazy for sure.

But there was something else more important to put into question. How did that odd blonde girl know they should have been out of London before this happened. They could of died today and that sent an unnerving chill down Alice's spine at the thought. But thankfully they're safe because of a raffle ticket. Why them? Why her family?

What she didn't know, that it would all make sense sooner than expected...


	29. Turn Left Part 3

**_April 2009_**

Alice squeezes in between her Mum and grandad to listen what the housing officer had to tell them. They had virtually lost everything in the explosion that had wiped out London three months ago, their house, every person who hadn't been in London was in the same boat considering the recent stream of alien attacks at Christmas. So they had to be relocated, given a roof over their heads and food put in their belly. It was just so difficult to hear with the buzz of people talking away and babies crying for attention it was just chaos. Giving Alice the whole new meaning to the word claustrophobic.

"Leeds?!" Donna exclaimed in horror with a gasp, trust her sisters big mouth to be loud, as the young red head pinched her nose, "I'm not moving to Leeds!"

The housing officer returned stiffly without care, "It's Leeds - or you can wait in the hostel for another three months."

Alice sees her mother's face full of sadness as she breathed woefully, "All I want is a washing machine."

"What about Glasgow?" Donna asked in desperation, "I heard there were jobs going in Glasgow."

Her sister was a temp! A supertemp! Who could do and learn anything to get any job, but the trouble was she needed one available.

The housing officer was starting to get annoyed, "You can't pick and choose!" they snapped irritably, "We have the whole of Southern England flooded with radiation. Seven million people in need of relocation, and now France has closed its borders. So, it's Leeds - or nothing."

The young Noble pulled an face at the woman, not putting up with her rude attitude, "Hey, no need be a bitch about it."

"Alice Noble!" her mother scolds, nudging her rather hard in the ribs.

"Ow!" She now moaned in complaint, rubbing her side, "What?! It's true she had it coming!"

She felt her mother's glowering gazing boring into at her. But she honestly didn't care. There was nothing wrong she did but voice her opinion. The woman was being a bitch. They've lost their home, at least the woman could have been more sympathetic about their situation.

"Next!" The housing officer without a care stamps 'LEEDS' in red letters onto their papers and shoved them forwards.

-Doctor Who-

The family sat inside an army bus, being driven up to Leeds with the other refugees. As the young Noble rested her head on Donna's shoulder gazing sadly out the window. It had only just hit home for her that this was actually happening to them. It just didn't feel real to her. Those same thoughts and feelings she had months before told her...none of this was never meant to happen none of it...

Alice sighed deeply just as she felt her sister brush some hair away from her forehead, causing her to look up, "We'll be alright..." she reassured her little sister, "We'll get out of this awful mess. Don't worry I'll make sure of it."

She responded with a weak smile and nodded, even with the doubts going through her head. If there was one person that could save them from this, it was the Doctor...

Alice now frowned in confusion. The Doctor who is that? Where on Earth did she get that from? She shook her head trying to dismiss it as nothing but a lack of sleep.

It's now the bus finally came to their destination as both sisters looked out the window. To see row upon row of small cramped terraced houses. Alice sighing at the sight before turning to see the glum expression on her sisters face. She wanted to say something, but what was there to say?

The bus now completely stopped as family by family pilled out along with the refugees. A female solider showed up with a loudspeaker to let the waiting families know where they were going to their new homes, including them.

"The Daniels Family, billetted at number 15," the soilder shouted out as they went to their designated home, "Mr Mrs Obego, billetted at number 31. Miss Contrane, you're in number 8. The Noble family billeted at number 29."

"That's us," Wilf sighed as he picked up the cases, "Come on, off we go. Oh. All right?"

A middle aged woman was stood in the doorway next to theirs, her arms folded over her chest giving the family a look of hostility, "Used to be a nice little family in number 29," she glared at the Nobles with a sneer, "They missed one mortgage payment - just one - they got booted out. All for you lot."

"Don't get all chippy with me, Vera Duckworth!" Donna spat back angrily, "Pop your clogs on and go and feed whippets!"

The young Noble smirked to herself as Donna tugged her along, as the woman stared at her back.

"Sweetheart, come on!" Their Gramps called out, "You're not going to make the world any better by shouting at it!

"I can try," she mumbled with retort, wrapping an arm around her sisters shoulders. Who in turn returned the favour as she gave her a comforting squeeze. Just as they found number 29 only to find the door shut.

"What happens?" Sylvia asked in confusion, "Do we get keys?"

Out of nowhere a shiver travelled down the young Nobles spine, hearing the noises of screeching in her head followed by a mechanical wheezing that echoed throughout her head. My God was this getting annoying for her.

"I don't know, do I?"

Their mother looked about for help, "Well, who do we ask? The soldiers?"

The door suddenly comes open, revealing a beaming Italian man. His grin so wide, that his face would probably break if it got any bigger. He smacks the wall enthusiastically, "Hey-ey-ey! Is a big house! Room for all. Welcome! In you come."

"I thought this was our house," Donna stared back at the man in utter confusion.

"Is many people's house! Is wonderful! In, in, in," he exclaimed as he ushered the family inside the narrow hallway. Alice having to suck herself in a little just to even get through, "We've been here for eight weeks already. Had a nice little paper shop in Shepherd's Bush - all gone now!" It bother her that he didn't seem sad about losing his business, like other people would be.

She now felt somebody was staring at her so looked up to see two little boys, watching them through the staircase as they crowded more into the cramped hallway. She offered them a warm but friendly smile which made both boys blush slightly.

"So, upstairs, we have Merchandani family, seven of them. Good family. Good kids," he eyes one of the boys, "Except that one. You be careful of him," he spoke seriously at first before bursting out laughing and ruffling the boys hair, "Ah, that's a joking! Where's that smile, eh?"

Alice smiled at that, the man's excitement was infectious and refreshing to her, that he was happy to meet new people, his laugh and the way he joked and rambled... it felt...warm and familiar. She thought the way he was would irritate her but didn't, like they would go on and on. But after everything that's happened, right now she needed that familiarity even she didn't now why it felt so familiar.

As they walked through he introduced himself, "Rocco Colasanto. I'm here with my wife and her sister and her husband and their kids and her daughter's kids. We've got the front room," he now adds his tone becoming apologetic, "My mother, she's got the back room. She's old. You'll forgive," he now went back to being enthusiastic again, "And this, this is you. This is your palace!"

He shows the family into a narrow kitchen. There was a curtain instead of a door covering the entrance and the beds made up on the floor. The young Nobles face fell, staring at the beds in disbelief. She would rather sleep on a park bench.

"What do you mean, this is us?" Sylvia asked, rather apprehensive.

"You live here!"

"We're living in the kitchen?" Donna raised an eyebrow, trying to take the man seriously.

"You got camp-beds. You got the cooker, you keep warm, you got the fridge, you keep cool. Is good!"

"What about the bathroom?" their mother frowned.

"Nobody lives in the bathroom!" Rocco laughed as if she had just told a joke.

"No, I mean, is there a rota?"

"Is pot-luck!" he laughed again, "Is fun! I go wake Mamma. She likes new people," he pushed past them back into the hallway, shouting as he went, "Mamma! Is people! Nice people!"

"Oh, Doctor..." Alice muttered to herself quietly, "You just had to go and die didn't you?" not taking her long to realise his name slipped from her lips again. Why was it always him? She's never met the man before in her entire life! Now it was just nothing but pure frustration and confusion!

Perhaps it didn't mean anything... It probably meant nothing. But somehow her mind chooses to believe, but her heart didn't want to even though it ached painfully. Her thoughts now get broken by her Gramps reassuring voice.

"Oh, well," he offered heartily to his family, "We'll settle in, won't we? Make do? Bit of wartime spirit, eh?"

Both the sisters smiled about it, leave it to their dear old grandad trying to cheer them up, always finding the good out of a bad situation. The young Noble frowned ever so slightly, feeling as if...someone she knew of must of done that as well. But it was still bugging her who.

"Yeah, but there isn't a war," Donna told with a sigh, "There's no fight. It's just... this."

"Well, America, they'll save us," Wilf spoke with determination, "It was on the news. They're going to send Great Britain fifty-billion quid in financial aid. God bless America!"

-Doctor Who-

The following day, all inhabitants of number 29 were crowded around a tv in the kitchen, eating food out of tins, watching the news report, "America is in crisis, with sixty million reported dead. Sixty million people have dissolved into fat. And the fat is walking."

Footage showed what to be hundreds of little blobs of fat with faces, arms and legs waddling down city streets. Alice strangely... found them quite cute...yet familiar looking. Well nowadays, everything that was happening seemed to look familiar lately.

 _'What you going to do then? Blow 'em up?'_

 _'They're just children. They can't help where they came from.'_

"People's fat has come to life and is walking through the streets."

Sylvia looked on at the report miserably, as footage of spaceships hovering over the buildings appeared, beaming up all the blobs, "And there are spaceships. There are reports of spaceships over every major US city. The fat is flying. It's leaving..."

"Aliens," Wilf mumbled quietly.

"Yeah," Donna offered just as quietly. It was something that just didn't shock her anymore...only depressed her.

"Really you don't say," Alice nodded, rubbing her throbbing head slightly and feeling a little nauseous.

 _'...Matron Cofelia of the Five-Straighten Classabindi Nursery Fleet. Intergalactic Class...'_

 _'Wow that's a mouthful.'_

 _'I'm waving at fat...'_

Keeping the nausea at bay she pushed her food tin away, suddenly not having an appetite. The image of a woman falling from a beam of light kept appearing, followed by her hitting the ground with a sickening thud.

"The fat creatures are being raised into the air..."

Having enough of watching the news, the young Noble reached over and shut off the tv.

 **-Doctor Who-**

Later that night, as Alice curled up against her sister on the made up bed head resting upon her shoulder. There are candles randomly lit around the kitchen, giving the room some light. She was almost nodding off to sleep, when her mother spoke in the most quietest of voices that she's ever heard. So she just listened.

"Mary McGinty," Sylvia muttered reflectively, "Do you remember her?"

"Who was she?"

"Worked in the news agent on a Sunday. Little woman. Black hair."

Donna was quite for a few moments before speak, "Never really spoke to her."

"She'll be dead. Every day, I think of someone else. All dead."

The young Noble rubbed her eyes, "Well, now isn't that morbid," she yawned in comment.

Her older sister looked down at her, "I thought you gone to sleep?"

"Nearly was...until mum woke me up."

"Maybe she went away for Christmas," Donna looked back over to her mother.

"Maybe..."

"I'll go out, tomorrow," Donna reassured changing the subject, "I'll walk into town. There's got to be work. Everyone needs secretaries. As soon as I'm earning, we'll get a proper place. Just you wait, Mum."

"What if it never gets better?"

"Course it will."

"Even the bees are disappearing. You don't see bumble-bees anymore."

 _'I looked, I found them all. That song about the bees disappearing, 'I bet he's connected...'_

'...they keep saying we haven't got long to live. Global warming, flooding, all the bees disappearing.'

 _'...1926, they've still got bees...'_

1926?! What the hell was that? Her own mother hadn't even come to mind in 1926! Why did she think about 1926 for? Also for some reason why had she been seeing a giant wasp? She just wanted the thoughts and memories to stop. They couldn't be hers. Could they?

"They'll sort us out," she heard Donna speaking coming back to reality, "The emergency government. They'll do something."

"What if they don't?"

"Then... we'll complain," Donna smiled with positivity.

The young Noble joked with a much needed giggle, "Yeah, because that always works."

But their mother didn't see the funny side of it, "Who's going to listen to us? Refugees. We haven't even got a vote. We're just no-one, Donna. We don't exist."

Donna sighed in disbelief, as the sound of voices singing a drinking song traveled through to them from the living room, "And I spent all my money on whiskey and beer..."

"I am going to KILL that man!"Donna growled dangerously, getting up charging out the kitchen towards the living room, even if it was an excuse to get away from her mother's morbid discussion. She bursts into the living room Alice on her heels, "Now, listen, Mussolini...I am telling you for the last time, to BUTTON IT. If I hear one more SEA SHANTY..." trailing off, both sisters see their Gramps sitting on a chair in the corner, having been part of the whole singing fiasco.

"I always loved a sing-song!" he smiled back at them.

 **-Doctor Who-**

The whole house, now including the Nobles, were were crowded into the living room, singing Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, "I'm just a poor boy from a poor family, he's just a poor boy from a poor family, spare him his life from this monstrosity..." they all laughed, "Doo doo doo doo doo, easy come, easy go, will you let me go?"

"Bismillah! No..." everyone stopped, taking notice to the sound of guns, alarm on everyone's faces.

"Stay here...everyone, stay!" Rocco called seriously than the rest, making the young Noble stiffen from him being playful one minute then serious the next with the click of a finger, again...as that sudden familiarity shone through to her. If he had noticed, but said nothing else as he got up and rushed to the front door.

Not heading Rocco's words they all crowded outside. As a solider in a red cap shot at the backend of an army van into the exhaust. Alice wrinkled her nose from entire area clouding over with smoke.

"Hey-ey-ey!" Rocco yelled at the soldier waving at him, "Firing at the car is not so good! You...you crazy or what??"

"It's this ATMOS thing, it won't stop!"the soldier argued, turning to him, "It's like gas, it's toxic."

"Well, switch it off!"

"I have done, it's still going," he argued back again, "It's every car. Every single ATMOS car, they've gone mad."

An image comes to the young Noble, closing her eyes for a few moments, her grandad sitting in their car, trapped inside, while cloudy smoke billowed out of the other cars before them filled it, choking the man...

Eyes snapped open, hearing clicking beside her. She wasn't the only one so had her sister and the soldier as well. His gun turning to aim at Donna also her as well seeing as she was beside her sister.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Alice exclaimed with shock.

She only gets ignored, "You, lady, turn around!" the soldier yelled at her sister, who afraid to do anything as Wilfred and Rocco come to stand protectively in front of them both.

"Are you crazy, boy?" Rocco spat angrily at him.

"Turn around!"

"Put the gun down!" Wilfred ordered with a yell.

"Turn around! Turn around!"

"Do what he says!" Sylvia insisted in distress to her daughter, "Turn around, now!"

"Turn around, now! Show me your back!"

This time she listened, turning slowly with her hands in the air. To reveal nothing from what Alice could see from back there.

The soldier having noticed this as well lowered his gun eyes full of confusion and terror, "Sorry... I thought I saw..."

Wilfred doesn't even let him finish angrily approaching them, "Call yourself a soldier? Pointing guns at innocent women?!" He jabbed a finger at the soldier, "You're a disgrace. In my day, we would've had you court marshalled!"

Alice tried her hardest not laugh only for a small giggle to escape. However nobody seemed to have heard her, with all the commotion. It cheered her up a little hearing her grandad have a go at someone because it didn't rarely happen much.

"Donna!" she now heard her mother crying out and finally taking notice, her sister was no longer beside her anymore. Whirling around she found Donna walking towards an alleyway, "Donna?! Where are you going? It's not safe at night! Donna! Donna!" But with all her yelling, she didn't make a move to go and follow after her.

Rolling her eyes in annoyance the young redhead went chasing after her sister, her mother now calling after her, but managed to ignore it. Eventually Alice catches up to Donna but she wasn't alone as she caught a glimpse of the person. It's the blonde woman who told them to go away for Christmas. Her eyes narrowed in scrutiny over the woman. There's just something bout her Alice didn't like but the annoying thing was is she didn't know what. It was just...something.

She watched Donna go off with her, Alice continued to follow them. Ending up on a nearby park bench as she hid behind some bushes eavesdropping on their conversation. Finally when her sister had left crying, she was extremely pissed off. Why would the woman say things like that? Her sister wasn't going to die! Not on her watch! Just about to escape from her hideout and give the blonde what for, she heard her speak.

"Alice...you can come out now," making the young Noble freeze on the spot, "No point hiding anymore, I know your there."

She slowly got up, coming out from behind the bushes coming face to face with the blonde woman. Who says nothing as she eyed Alice over with a look she couldn't comprehend. Only to meet each other's eyes again. The look in her eyes she had been giving didn't sit well with her and the redhead glared at her in return, folding her arms across her chest.

"Where the hell do you get off, telling my sister she's goin' to die?" she snapped viciously at the blonde, "You don't go up to someone and tell them they're goin' to die without explanation! Seriously! The Doctor would have more common sense to explain it!" There it went his name slipping off her tounge as the blonde stared back at her with wide eyes.

"You remember?" She asked rather shocked and surprised. The look in her eyes scared Alice a little. So she took tentative step back from her.

"Remember what? What am I supposed to remember?" She knew what the woman was talking about. She was talking about the Doctor.

"The Doctor, Alice! You remember the Doctor," she took a step towards the redhead.

"Haven't got a clue what your on about!" Alice lied through her teeth but the young blonde wasn't convinced.

"Yes Alice, you do. You know what exactly I'm talking about. I can tell from your eyes," the young Noble didn't respond as the other woman took another step closer, "Ok if you want to pretend that you don't, that's fine, but you have to convince your sister to see me. Please."

"What makes you think I'll help you?"

"Because, the world depends on Donna's life, it depends on the Doctor's life."

"Newsflash, Barbie, the Doctor's dead and buried!" Alice shouted at her. The blonde gets taken aback but hurt by her words, "He's dead alright... he's gone and nobody...c-can't bring him b-back..." she felt tears running down her cheeks as her voice breaks and heart pounds painfully against her chest. The emotions, the feelings she had for the man. Yet she didn't know who the Doctor was! But the pain it felt so raw and real that it was driving her crazy!

It surprised the woman how she was acting, like she was grieving for somebody she had loved. But she knew this couldn't be true, that the Doctor couldn't of possibly moved on from her. So she pushed it to the back of her mind getting back to the more important matter at hand, "We can get him back, but I need your sisters help. Please Alice. Please at least try. For him.

The young Noble disagreed with a shake of her head, "No! I won't do it!"

"But Alice..."

"NO! Why should I help you? You upset my sister, told her she's going to die, all to save this Doctor bloke I don't even know, that my own sister dosen't even know? So sorry, no. I can't help you."

But the woman never got another word in, as Alice ran fast as she could fresh tears coming down her face.


	30. Turn Left Part 4

**_May 2009_**

A few weeks had passed by with a breeze for Alice and her family. They had got better acquainted with Rocco's family and the others in the house. They had become like a second family to them.

As for the blonde woman, the sisters hadn't seen her again since. Both of them not mentioning a word about her at all. But Donna knew her sister had seen her too and explained what had been said between them. However, she took none of it, so Alice didn't mention it again. There wasn't any point. All she wanted to do was forget what the blonde woman had said about her sister dying. Only that it was on her mind, always and probably never go away.

Only right now, as they gathered outside at number 29 because Rocco and his family were leaving. The sisters weren't exactly sure where they were being taken, all they knew is that they were going to be dearly missed.

"And you!" Rocco gave Donna a massive hug, spinning her around with a laugh, "I'm going to miss you most of all, all flame-haired and firey."

"Hey, aren't you forgetting me as well?" Alice asked him with a pout.

He gathers the young Noble into a hug with a laugh, "I'm going to miss you too, Alice, of course!"

She smiled back as she hugged him tightly, "I'm going to miss you too, Rocco you big Italian oaf," she joked pulling back giving him a smile.

He looked to Donna and smiled fondly as she spoke, "Oh, but why do you have to go?"

"It's the new law! England for the English, et cetera," behind the sisters, Wilf closed his eyes

"Well, it isn't fair if you ask me," the young Noble sighed deeply.

Rocco gently patted the top of Alice's head, "They can't send us home, the oceans are closed!" he explains, "They build labour camps," he offered with a false smile.

"I know, but... labour doing what? There aren't any jobs."

Rocco becomes a little wrong-footed for only a split second, only for him to brush it off quickly, "Sewing! Digging! Is good!" he kisses both the sisters cheeks, "Now, stop it before I kiss you too much," he kisses them on the cheek again. He turned to face their Gramps, "Wilfred. My Captain," he saluted to him as he stood to attention returning the salute.

They both share an intense look and Alice frowned feeling that she was missing something that she or Donna couldn't quite understand. Rocco was no longer smiling, the twinkle had vanished from his eyes as Wilf's eyes became red rimmed and moist. With a final nod Rocco went and joined the other foreigners on the van.

"It'll be quiet with him gone," The eldest Noble sighed with a remark, "Still, we'll have more room."

"'Labour camps'. That's what they called them last time," their grandfather spoke, his voice shaking.

"What do you mean?" Donna frowned looking to him, confused. Her eyes returning to Rocco and his family on the back of the van, arms around his sobbing wife all of them looking terrified. It hurt Alice more ways than one to see them like this.

"It's happening again."

"What is?" Donna asked turning back to her Gramps distraught expression at the van, uncomprehending she approached the soldiers with a fast pace as Alice quickly chased after her understanding now what her granddad had meant. It was like WW2 all over again for him.

"Excuse me? Excuse me, where are you taking them?" the soldiers ignored her questioning, running after the van, "Where are you going? Rocco, where are you going? Where are you going?" the van disappeared around the corner as she shouted with desperation, "Where are you going?!"

The young Noble looked back at her Gramps, who is shaking his head, before turning her attention back to her sister. Who was now sitting on her knees, still shouting. Going over to her Alice pulled her into a tight hug. Donna turned burying her face into her little sisters chest sobbing.

"Why is everything going wrong?" she muffled into Alice's top still crying.

She wanted to say something, have an answer to her troubling question. But she had nothing, staring down the street as she stroked Donna's hair. Wishing she knew what it was...

 **-Doctor Who-**

After the stressful days events they had earlier today, the young Noble felt physically and mentally drained so she decided to take a nap. But it wasn't a long nap as the sound of Donna's voiced filled the room rousing her from sleep.

"I asked about jobs, with the army," her sister spoke softly to their mother as Alice stayed still, listening in, "They said I wasn't qualified," there was a response of silence, no change in expression, "You were right. You said I should have worked harder at school."

Tone now joking and light making the young Noble smile in sadness to herself, with still nothing but a silent response from their mother.

"I suppose I've always been a disappointment."

The statement Donna makes their mother finally speak in agreement, "Yeah."

She knew her big sister well enough to know she was probably crying and it made her want to as well. With that she heard her leaving the room. To Alice, Donna was never a disappointment in her eyes.

Alice sat up slowly in her already made up bed staring after her big sister, wishing to reach out...but there was nothing she could do. The very thought just exhausted her as she laid back down with a heavy sigh.

Later on that night, Alice, Wilfred and Donna are bundled up in winter coats sat around bucket of fire keeping them warm. The young Noble had her head rested on her sisters shoulder while Donna's was on her Gramps. Three of them just sitting there in silence, the sisters staring into space and their grandad sipping some tea.

Alice sighed breaking the silence, "It's pretty out tonight," she offered softly.

Donna took her sisters hand squeezing it, "Yeah it is," she smiled back sadly, as Alice squeezed back. Their Gramps staring at his telescope, which had been set up before them.

"You know, we'd get a bit of cash if we sold this thing," he now comments.

The young redhead lifted her head to stare at her grandad in disbelief, "You can't be serious?"

"Don't you dare!" her sister warned seriously.

"Gramps, you love that thing," Alice told him, "We don't want you selling it, even if meant helping us."

Her big sister nodded in agreement, as she now sighed, "I always imagined, your old age... I'd have put a bit of money by, make you comfy. Never did. I'm just useless."

"Can you stop that?" Alice snapped having enough of her sisters self pity who stared back in surprise, "You aren't useless, Donna. I hate it when you let mum convince that you're not important. But you are, you are important to me, to Gramps. You're the most amazing sister I could ever ask for. I'd never want any other person to replace that. You're always there when I need you, no matter what. You might not see that you're important, but I always will."

Donna opens her mouth to say something, but their grandad interrupts.

"Ah, it must be the alignment," Wilf mumbled to himself, staring into the eyepiece of his telescope.

"What?" the sisters asked in unison.

"Well, I don't know, I mean, it can't be the lens. I was looking at Orion, the constellation of Orion, you take a look," he moved for Donna to have look, "And tell me, what can you see?"

"Where?"

"Well, up there in the sky!"

Donna peers through the telescope, "Well, I can't see anything, it's just... black."

"Well, I mean it's working! The telescope is working!" he complained voicing his confusion.

"Well... maybe it's the clouds," Donna moved away from the telescope, the younger Noble deciding to have a look herself...she was definitely right. The sky was completely dark.

"There's no clouds!"

"Well, there must be!"

"There's not! It was there," he gestured to the section of sky, "An entire constellation," the stars he was pointing out started to blinking out like something was turning them off, "Look... look there..." Alice's mouth hung open, one constellation at time vanished from existence, "They're going out. Oh, my God, Donna! The stars are going out."

It made the young Noble realise that the blonde woman's words rang true. If it was, then what she said about Donna dying was true as well. Now Alice realised what she had to do and so did her sister, but what she needed to do was entirely different from her sister had to...

Once their Gramps had left, Donna frowns perturbed turning around with her sister and there stood the blonde standing there before them.

"I'm ready," the eldest Noble said stepping forward. But Alice grabbed her arm tightly, stopping her from going.

"I'm coming too."

Her sister turned to look at her seriously, "No, Ally...you need to stay here. I've got to do this on my own."

With determination Alice crossed her arms, "No, Donna I won't. I'm coming with you."

"She's right you better stay here," the blonde agreed, as the young Noble stared back at her, "Just stay here. We only just need you're sister."

Alice glared at her with distrust, "And she needs me Barbie! I'm not leaving her! Never have, never will leave her not yet, so I'm coming and won't take no for an answer."

The blonde looked a little frustrated as she clenched her jaw, not that Alice cared anyway, "Ok, fine come on then," turning around, she watched the woman stomp away. The young Nobles glare hardening.

Getting into the UNIT van nothing was said. Alice didn't fancy talking to the blonde anyway. She just didn't like her, for some reason. There was just something about her that just didn't sit right.

The van comes to a stop and they jumped out. The blonde taking lead in front, walking with purpose towards the enormous warehouse. Only for the redhead to roll her eyes, but follows her anyway in step with Donna.

She pushes a curtain aside to allow entry into the warehouse. Inside, there was a whole circle of mirrors with lights between each one. But Alice took notice to the tall blue box hooked up to bunches of wires, causing her to stop and stare. A familiar spark ignited throughout her body and she had no idea why. Only for her to ignore as she continued following her sister and the blonde.

"Loadstone testing now at 15.4," a voice announced over a loudspeaker, "Repeat: 15.4."

"Ma'am," a dark-skinned woman in military uniform comes over to greet them, saluting to the blonde.

"I've told you, don't salute," she snapped irritably in return.

 _'Sir.'_

 _'...oh, don't salute...'_

Alice nearly laughs as she heard that voice in her head, of that man huffing irritability. She maybe saw a little of it in the blonde woman actually...the way she spoke and held herself, sounding and acting a little like that mans voice

"Talk about getting your knickers in a twist," the younger Noble mumbled to her sister, as she annoyingly rolled her eyes. Not seeing the glare that had been thrown her way, at her words.

"Well, if you're not going to tell us your name..." the soldier remarked rolling her eyes as the blonde turned on a computer nearby.

"What, you don't know either?" Donna interrupted with a small laugh, knowing she and Alice weren't the only ones.

"There's too many different realities," the blonde replied with a sigh, her eyes focused on the computer, "Trust me, the wrong word in the wrong place can change an entire causal nexus."

The young redhead couldn't make heads or tails of what she just said.

"She talks like that,"the dark-skinned woman turned to the Noble sisters, "A lot. And you must be Miss Noble."

"Donna," the eldest Noble corrected with a nod, held out her hand.

She nodded in return shaking Donna's had as she introduced herself, "Captain Erisa Magambo. Thank you for this."

"I don't even know what I'm doing," she replied staring back at her.

Captain Magambo then turns to the young redheaded, "And you are?"

"Alice Noble, Donna's sister," she held out her hand in a friendly sort of manner, "Nice to meet you.

Alice thought she heard the blonde snort and laugh slightly, turning to see her only to stop and glare back at her, apologising to the captain, "Sorry," knowing well she was reminded of a certain someone.

"Ah," Captain Magambo nodded after shaking the young woman's hand, "Yes, I've heard of you," she frowned, returning an irritated glare at the blonde, "But she's not meant to be here..."

"Yes, she decided to tag herself along," the blonde muttered to herself, sounding rather bitter.

"She is right here, thank you," the young Noble stresses with a glare in the blondes direction. Who only brushed it of as her hands curled into fists.

Finishing what she was doing on the computer the blonde turns to Magambo, "Is it awake?"

"It seems to be quiet today. Ticking over. Like it's waiting."

Alice for now brushes her anger aside to ask, "Sorry, don't mean to interrupt, but what is it?"

The blonde nodded at the blue box in response, her arms folded. Staring at it with contemplation, then looked to her older sister with intensity, "Do you want to see it?"

"What's a police box?" Donna raised an confused eyebrow.

Nothing was said by the blonde again for a few moments as she walked over to the blue box, "They salvaged it from underneath the Thames," she explained, "Just go inside."

"What for?"

"Just go in!"

Doing as she was told Donna went inside, but the young Noble stayed put, just staring at the blue box like it was mocking her. That familiar spark from earlier took hold of her again. This time, Alice wasn't going to brush it off. Why did it feel so familiar to her?

Everything seemed to faded from around her, taking slowly steady steps as she approached the tall, blue magnificent box and reaches out her hand towards it. Alice's fingers grazed the wooden surface. She gasped as memories hit her like a bucket of ice cold water.

She remembers the Doctor.

She remembers the TARDIS.

She remembers every single adventure she's had with the Doctor and her sister. Everything and from the tender moments they shared.

The memories that had come so fast, alone made her dizzy. Now as she stared at the young blonde, a name came to mind knowing exactly who she was. Rose, the girl in love with the Doctor.

Which made her heart throb painfully at the thought if he still had feelings for her and the thought alone made her feel bitter. Just when she's broke from her moment from Donna's gasp inside the TARDIS.

"No. Way," she heard Donna laughing loudly. The joys of remembering short lived, with realisation that her sister still had no clue that she's already seen inside the ship before.

Barbie, she was still going to call Rose that even if she knew who she was now, was smiling as Donna ran outside the TARDIS, explored its exterior before dashing back inside.

"Ally!" her sister called to her in excitement, "You've got to come and see this!"

Avoiding Rose's gaze, feeling as if she looked her way that Alice would have remembered. Walking inside the TARDIS she forced herself not to gasp.

This wasn't the same TARDIS she had come to know. It was covered in a blanket of darkness and was eerily silent. No Doctor running about frantically, pressing buttons and his infectious laughter she's grew to love, more ways than one. But she just didn't like it the silence felt wrong.

"It's bigger on the inside!" Donna exclaimed, snapping Alice from her thoughts.

"Yeah, it is..." she nodded slowly putting on a shocked face, which wasn't particularly hard for her to do. As her sister now went in to complete silence, one that drew out too long.

Alice stared at her with concern, "Don?"

Looking around for a few moments her before sister headed back outside of the TARDIS. She followed behind her to Rose mostly grinning more at Donna, than her.

"What do you think?"

"...Can I have a coffee?" Her big sister questioned after pausing, looking light on her feet. She leaned into Alice's side for support.

 **-Doctor Who-**

Ten minutes later, the Noble sisters were standing inside the TARDIS once again. Donna cradling a cup of coffee in her hands. The colour having returned back to her face.

While standing there, the younger Noble watched Rose walking around the TARDIS console. Just staring at her, taking the woman in. Wondering what she couldn't see, why on Earth the Doctor would like her...she was pretty, obviously, her personality was a bit hit and miss. She shook her head trying not to get jealous.

"Time And Relative Dimension In Space. This room used to shine with light," Alice sees Rose smiling sadly at the rota, "I think it's dying."

"It is a she," Alice finds herself correcting her about the ships gender, who made Rose snap her head towards her, "What? Isn't every ship a 'she'?"

She felt Rose narrowing her eyes at her for just a moment only to shake her head, obviously brushing off Alice's comment as she reached out to rub the console, "She's still trying to help."

"And..." Donna pause briefly with a frown, "And it belonged to the Doctor?"

"He was a Time Lord. Last of his kind."

Alice comes to touch the locket around her neck, fingertips grazing the engraved circles. Knowing well enough of the secret it keeps of her true identity inside, maybe something Rose didn't have an inkling about it. That the Doctor wasn't the last of his kind.

Donna frowned, the statement for some reason sounded puzzling, although she couldn't figure out why, so shook her head, "But if he's so special, what's he doing with me?"

'Why even ask such a question?' Alice smiled sadly in thought.

"He thought you were brilliant," Rose offered with a smile.

"Don't be stupid," the older Noble brushed off with a roll of her eyes.

"Well, you are! It just took the Doctor to show you that, simply by being with him," Rose looked away sadly, "He did the same to me. To everyone he touches."

Although Alice didn't like Rose, she couldn't help but agree with her. The Doctor had showed her big sister just how brilliant she could be and he showed her...there was more to life than just sitting at a desk and going University. It just made her feel...alive.

Donna watched her carefully, sensing something troubling, a unexplained hole forming in her stomach for some reason made her think of her sister, "Were you and him...?"

Right then and there the young Nobles heart broke a little, thinking maybe the Doctor did have some kind of feelings of love still for Rose, like she does for him. She knew this much was true that he's moved on with her now and Rose was his past. But why... why did it hurt to think that he just hasn't properly let her go yet.

Brushing off what she felt aside for now. Alice watched on, as the young blonde wasn't able to her answer instead she reached out and smoothing a hand over her sisters shoulder, "Do you want to see it?" She asks daringly.

"No," Donna quickly responded with a shake of her head, as her little sister took her hand, as she looked over to her.

"I think you should see it," the young Noble encouraged softly, "Just so you know whatever everyone has been staring at...I'll be right beside you."

The older Noble squeezed her sisters hand and nodded, then returned her sights back to Rose, who staring impatiently waiting for an answer, "Ok...I'll do it."

 **-Doctor Who-**

Watching from outside the circle of mirrors, Alice stood near to Captain Magambo as Rose guides her sister to the circles centre.

"We don't know how the TARDIS works, but we've managed to scrape off the surface technology - enough to show you the creature," She explains a

Donna gasped her eyes widening with alarm, "It's a creature?" Now glancing to her sister, who offers a reassuring smile.

"It will be ok," she mouthed to her.

She now took some deep breaths as Rose spoke, straightening her out, "Just stand here."

"Out of the circle, please," Captain Magambo orders to Rose.

"Yes, ma'am," doing so she moved out the way rolling her eyes, as she came and stood the other side of Alice.

"Can't you stay with me?" Donna called out fearfully to Rose, but she gave no answer. If nobody was going to stay by her side. Then Alice would. As without a care to what anyone thought she walked into the circle.

"Get out, Miss Noble," Captain Magambo ordered firmly to Alice.

"No I won't so go to hell," she young redhead snaps at the Captain, taking her sisters hand, "You're not the boss of me, and I'll do whatever the hell I want. Because she's my sister."

Captain Magambo wanted to say more, but Rose interrupts, "Let's not waste anymore time. Just get on with it."

The captain gave her a glance, then Alice one as she stood there with her sister tightly squeezing her hand. With that she sighed in defeat.

"Ready?" Magambo called looking around, "And... activate."

The whirring of machinery and bright lights around them snapped on, one by one. Both sisters having screwed their eyes tightly closed. Alice slowly opened her eyes and gasped at the monster that greeted her. It looked to be a giant beetle. Now she could understand why people had been scared of it.

But, it didn't scare her, so she tries to reassure Donna calmly not to be frightened of it, "Don, it's okay," she squeezed her hand firmly, "Just open them. It's there, but it's fine. Nothing to be afraid of. I'm right here sis, okay?"

Donna only but shook her head and bit her lip, "I can't."

The young redhead goes to speak only to get interrupted by Rose, "It's part of you, Donna," she told her, "Look."

Ever so slowly, Donna opened her eyes and could see the creature. There in the mirrors, she sees what is a massive, black beetle perching on her shoulder and clinging on to her back. With a gasp she squeezed her sisters hand tightly, nearly breaking it.

Alice almost squeaks in response. Obviously trying to calm her hadn't helped, since she had let go of her hand and was spinning around frantically.

Which young Noble noticed didn't stop Rose from trying to offer reassurance, "It's ok, it's ok, it's ok, calm down, Donna?" she tried calling but it didn't work, so she yelled, "Donna? Donna!" It seemed to have helped and the eldest Noble stopped, "Ok."

Trying to calm herself with taking deep breaths, Donna stares at the beetle with trepidation. It was almost big as her back, it pincers nestled against her hair. To Alice it seemed the creature wasn't causing any harm, just resting there on her sisters back, clicking away.

"What is it?" Donna asked, with a nervous swallow.

"We don't know," Rose offered apologetically, as the young Noble gave her a disbelieving stare.

"Oh," Donna nodded, her voice dripping with slight sarcasm and terror, "Thanks."

"It feeds off time," Rose started with a sigh, "By...by changing time, by making someone's life take a different turn, like er... meetings never made... children never born... a life never loved. But with you, it's..." she trailed off, shaking her head.

"But I never did..." Alice felt her sister freeze with fear, so she grabs her hand, "...anything important."

"Yeah, you did," Rose told her, "One day, that thing made you turn right instead of left."

"When was that?"

"Oh, you wouldn't remember," But Alice did, that was something she was willing to keep silent about, "It was the most ordinary day in the world, but by turning right, you never met the Doctor..." Rose glances at her, "Neither did you," her eyes returned to Donna, "And the whole world just changed around you."

"Can you get rid...of it?"

"I can't even touch it," Rose sighed helplessly, looking at it, "It seems to be in a state of flux."

"What...does that...mean?!"

"I don't know. It's the sort of thing the Doctor would say!" The blonde admitted with a laugh.

"Do you think now is a good time to laugh?" the young Noble snaps at her, "Because it ain't funny, Barbie!"

"Could you please stop calling me that?!"

"No, don't think I will," she returned with a glare.

"Shut up the pair of you!" Donna yelled at them and they both went silent. Which continued to be directed at Rose, "You liar!" her eyes now filling up with tears as she became hysterical, "You told me I was special! But it's not me! It's this thing! I'm just a host!"

"Don..." Alice spoke delicately as she tried taking her sisters hand. Only for it to be tugged away and honestly it hurt a little, but she wasn't upset about it. Because she understood. She understood her sister better than anyone.

"No, no, there's more than that," the blonde tries to remains calm, "The readings are strange it's... it's like reality's just bending round you."

"Because of this thing!"

"No, no!" Rose cries out, having given up on trying to stay calm, "We're getting separate readings from you. And they've always been there, since the day you were born."

"This is not relevant to the mission," Captain Magambo informed to Rose seriously.

"I thought it was just the Doctor we needed," Rose went on ignoring Magambo, "But it's the both of you. The Doctor and Donna Noble. Together. To stop the stars from going out."

"Why?!" Donna asked roaring hysterically, as she shook with fear. As her sister watched on her heart breaking, wanting to just hug her, only to stay still, to not touch her unless she wanted her to, "What can I do?!"

But the blonde couldn't give an answer. As the eldest Noble struggled to muster up the courage to look at the beetle on her back, "Turn it off," she whimpers, "Please."

"Captain," Rose says quickly.

"Power down."

As soon as the lights had powered down as Donna was still shaking uncontrollably, even though the beetle is no visible to her.

"Donna..." the young Noble spoke delicately as she opened her arms. Her sister falls into them gripping her tight as she watches Rose approach them both, a placing a comforting hand on the eldest Nobles back.

"It's... it's still there, though," Donna sobbed into her little sisters shoulder, "What can I do... to get rid of it?"

"You're going to travel in time."

 **-Doctor Who-**

Alice worriedly chewed her bottom lip, nervous about what is going to happen. She watched Rose who had taken charge, currently explaining to her big sister what she had to do. Currently now wearing a thick green jacket covered with a load of wires.

"The TARDIS has tracked down the moment of intervention, Monday the 25th, one minute past ten in the morning," the blonde told Donna, "Your car was on Little Sutton Street Ealing Road, but you turn right heading for Griffin's Parade. You need to turn left. That's the most important thing. You've got to go back and turn left. Have you got that, Donna? One minute past ten. Make yourself turn left, heading for the Chiswick Highroad."

Captain Magambo instructs approaching the eldest Noble, "Keep the jacket on at all times...it's insulation against temporal feedback," she straps a digital watch on her wrist, "This will correspond to local time wherever you land," then a glass of water, "This is to combat dehydration."

As her sister drinks her water, Alice spoke up with concern, "Will it hurt?" She asked Rose, being more decent towards the woman, which was a first for her. She now turned to the young redhead meeting her eyes, "Will she get hurt?"

The blonde paused before reassuring her, "Yes, she's going to be fine."

"You better hope she will," Alice's tone going dark and threatening slightly, "If my sister gets hurt, you're biggest regret will have been meeting me," before the blonde could utter a word, the young Noble turned on her heels and headed for Donna, as Rose's gaze pierced her back.

 **-Doctor Who-**

They were back at the circle and Donna is being led to the edge by several UNIT soldiers with Alice, Rose and Captain Magambo standing behind.

"This is where we leave you," the blonde told her, once she was settled by the circles edge.

"I don't want to see that thing on my back," Donna replied hurriedly.

"No! The mirrors are just incidental. They bounce chronon energy back into the centre which we control and decide the destination."

"Oh, yeah because that makes complete sense," Alice comments sarcastically, "In English, please."

"It's a time machine!"

"It's a time machine," Rose gave her a smile.

"If you could?" Magambo instructed with a call.

Rose offered with an encouraging smile, squeezing her arm one last time. She stepped out the circle. The young Noble stared at her sister, still rather concerned about the whole situation. She didn't want Donna doing this alone...and she wasn't going to. Because she had a plan.

"Powering up,"Magambo continued on, as the machine came to life, the lights snapping back on.

"How do you know it's going to work?" Donna questioned the blonde.

"Hmm? Oh... yeah...we...we don't," Rose replied to her, sounding uncannily like the Doctor to Alice, "We're just... we're just guessing."

"Yeah," Donna laughed anxiously, "Oh, brilliant!"

"Just remember, when you get to the junction, change the car's direction by one minute past ten."

"How exactly does she do that?" Alice interrupted, asking the very question her sister wanted to ask.

"That's up to her."

Donna let's out the breath she's been holding putting on a forced smile, "Well, I just have to... run up to myself and... have a good argument."

"I'd like to see that!" The blonde laughed.

"Activate loadstone."

A switch is flicked and the lights began to blink... the light on top of the TARDIS flashing from behind them in the background.

"Good luck," Rose called to her with encouragement.

"I'm ready!"Donna exclaimed enthusiastically.

"One minute past ten."

"Because I understand, now," Donna smiled on bravely through her tears, "You said I was going to die, but you mean this whole world is going to blink out of existence," only this wasn't the case, what the young Noble could gather from Rose's face. Face growing red with anger. That she had blatantly lied to her sister, "But that's not dying. Because a better world takes its place. The Doctor's world. And I'm still alive!" Donna smiled courageously, but Rose doesn't answer, "That's right, isn't it? I don't die? If I change things, I don't die? That's... that's right, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry."

The young redhead clenches her hands together, nails digging into her palms, "You bitch," Rose looks to her, taken aback, "The Doctor would be very disappointed in what you've become, Rose."

She watched her mouth drop open from shock.

"But I can't die!" Donna's confidence starts to waver, "I've got a future! With the Doctor...you told me!"

"Activate!"

The lights reach full intensity, almost blinding, a strong wind begins to pick up around her. Sparks flying out of the TARDIS.

Alice looked at Rose over her shoulder with menacing grin, "Oh, did I forget to tell you he's an phenomenal kisser," turning around without any thought she charged into the circle and jumped. Just about managing to grab hold of her sister, all she could hear was the echo of Rose's cries as they disappeared into a thick cloud of black smoke.

Opening her eyes, she found herself on all fours in the middle of a street. Alice suddenly yelps as a car horn goes off, jumping to her feet and moving herself out of the way from the incoming car.

"What the matter with you?! Get out the bloody way!" the driver yelling ferociously at her when he drove away.

Breathing heavily, Alice's hand went to her chest. She can't believe that it had actually worked. Even before she could gather her excitement, she realised her sister was nowhere in sight. She must of got separated from Donna while they were time travelling. She had to find her!

Alice knows what street she had to go, running fast as she could. Nothing was going according to plan! Her feet pounded the ground fast as she panted for breath. Eventually she finds her big sister, standing in the centre of the road.

"Donna!" She screamed for her, running faster than ever. Donna wasn't going to die not on her watch. Just getting there in the knick of time. She shoves Donna out the path of the approaching truck, which had been heading for her sister, crashes into her.

She heard the echoes of her sister screams just as she hit the ground, falling partly onto her side, a rib cracking. She hears another slightly louder crack as her head rammed into the concrete, eyes going blurry. Alice manages to gain her eyesight back a few moments later and found Donna kneeling before her horrified, tears in her eyes as they cascaded down her face.

"Ally...why did you?" the eldest Noble managed to say through her tears.

"I just couldn't let you die," Alice chokes out with a cough. The pain was so unbearable she hurt from head to toe, "My head...it's killing me..."

It made her recall something the Ood had said once 'every song must end', if it meant the end of her own. Even if it meant sacrificing her life to save Donna's. She was her big sister, loved her with all her heart, would do anything for her...if it meant sacrificing her life itself.

"We need to get you help..." Donna whispered brushing her sisters hair in comfort.

The young Noble shook her head even if it hurt, "It's too late now..."

Before the eldest could speak a word, Rose suddenly appeared as she gathered Alice into her arms, "Leave us alone!" she forces all her anger out on the blonde, "This is your fault!"

"I'm sorry...I didn't know she was going to do this," Rose says sadly, "But I need to tell her something...something that the Doctor needs to know."

Alice sees her sister try to protest, but interrupts her, "Don...it's ok...she can tell me..."

Donna doesn't bother to speak as Rose leant forward, whispering into two words into the young woman's ear. They were the last words she ever heard as she drifted off into darkness.

 **-Doctor Who-**

Gasping Alice's eyes shot open and she found herself back at the fortune tellers with her sister. Blinking her eyes turned to the corner at the cowering woman, staring at the sisters with fear. Both Nobles shared a look between them as they rose to their feet and stared at beetle laying on the ground. As it twitched and clicked feebly.

"What the hell is that?" Donna demanded of the teller.

"You were so strong," The Fortune Teller whispered, fearful, "What are you? What will you be?" She scrambles for the tents exit, whimpering, "What will you be?"

Both the Noble sisters thought the woman was talking absolute gibberish. As the beetle gave one final click before going completely still. Just then, oblivious to what had happened the Doctor strolls into the tent, casual as anything.

"Everything all right?"he asked mildly.

They stared at him as if they hadn't seen him for years. Alice is first of them to make a move.

"Doctor!" the young Noble exclaimed happily, slinging herself into her boyfriend. Taking the Time Lord by surprise as she hugged him tightly.

Donna joins in to hug him as well, turning it into a group hug, "Oh, God...!"

Getting over his surprise, the Doctor laughed returning their hugs and kissed the top of Alice's head affectionately, "What was that for?"

Both pulled back slightly to look up at him for a moment, "We don't know!" they exclaimed together before hugging him again, to make sure he was real.

Just ten minutes later, the sisters sat beside each other on the Fortune Tellers seat as it was large enough to fit two people. While the Time Lord examined the giant beetle, poking it about with an incense stick.

"I can't remember," Donna offered to him softly. Her sister nodding in agreement. That she couldn't remember a thing either...but wishes that she could, "It's slipping away. You know like when you try and think of a dream and it just sort of... goes."

"It just got lucky."

Alice stares at her mate, "What got lucky?"

He responded nodding at the beetle, "This thing. It's one of the Trickster's Brigade. Changes a life in tiny little ways. Most times, the universe just compensates around it, but with you..." he beamed at the eldest Noble proudly with smile, "Great big parallel world!"

Alice watched her sister smile, just as she recalled something the Doctor had mentioned once, "Wait a second, didn't you say once, that parallel worlds are sealed off?" she now questioned, head tilting slightly.

He told his mate with a nod, "They are. But Donna, and you since you were with her, had one created around you," now frowning, "Funny thing is, it seems to be happening a lot. To you lot."

"How do you mean?" Donna asked rather confused.

"Well, The Library and then this..."

The older Noble responded with a shrug, "Just... goes with the job. I suppose."

The Doctor observed both the sisters, his eyebrows furrowed, "Sometimes I think there's way too much coincidence around you, Donna and Alice. We crossed paths once at Donna's wedding, but you obviously don't remember that Ally."

"Yeah, because I was completely smashed out of my face," Alice recalled, with a small giggle, "Still can't remember much about it to be honest. Except for you maybe."

"I then met your grandfather. Then I finally met you properly for the first time Ally and your sister again," he briefly glanced at his girlfriend, "In the whole wide universe, I met you two for a second time."

The young Noble joked with a laugh, "Guess that makes us really special."

But the Time Lord failed to see his mates funny side to the matter, "It's like something's binding us together."

"Don't be so daft," Donna responded sceptically with disagreement, "I'm nothing special."

Alice sighed in disbelief, "Donna.."

"Yes, you are," the Doctor insisted fondly with a grin, "You're brilliant."

The eldest Noble gave a modest smile, pleased to have heard it but then frowns, "She said that."

The Time Lord gave her a confused look, "Who did?"

"The blonde woman."

Soon as her sister had said it, Alice remembered who she was and the memory wasn't exactly great. She remembered having such hatred and jealousy towards her.

The eldest Noble struggled to think but gave up quickly, "I can't remember."

"Well, she never existed now."

"No," Alice spoke up shaking her head, as both of them looked at her, "I remember her. She said...the stars...the stars are going out."

"Yeah, but that world's gone."

"No, but she said it was all worlds..." Donna agreed with her sister, everything slowly coming back to her, "Every world. She said the darkness is coming, even here."

The Doctor sat up straight in alert to properly listen, "Who was she?"

"I don't know."

"What did she look like?"the Time Lord asked getting suspicious.

"She was..." Donna paused for a few seconds to remember, "Blonde."

"What was her name?" He asked with great restraint, voice going quiet. There was only one blonde companion he knew of, besides Jack.

"I don't know!"

"Donna, what was her name?" He almost yelled. This was very important. If she's broken through the parallel Universe then the walls integrity are compromised...giving the darkness could be actually coming!

The young redhead started to get rather frustrated with her boyfriend, "We don't know, Doctor! She never said her bloody name. All she told, at the end, was something she wanted me to tell you. Two words," she had remembered them exactly, but never made sense.

The Doctor brushed off his mates frustration, "What two words?" He asked quietly but urgently voice slightly hollow, "What were they? What did she say?"

"Why should it even matter?"

"Ally, please tell me. What did she say?!"

She glared at him for yelling and sighed deeply, "Ok fine, she said...Bad Wolf."

His eyes widen after the words left her lips.

"Didn't have a clue what she meant by that," she shrugs.

Donna stared at the Time Lord, "Well, what does it mean...?" She never got to finish as he leapt to his feet.

Grabbing his mates hand and charging out the tent with her, Donna chasing after them. He could see it everywhere and for some reason so could Alice as her locket heated unpleasantly against her skin. From banners, posters, flags all reading 'Bad Wolf' on repeat. Running over to the TARDIS, seeing it above the doors, on the instructions. The Doctor just stares at them just a few seconds longer, before wrenching open the doors after letting go of Alice's hand.

She and Donna followed him inside slamming the doors shut behind them. Gasping at the hellish red light that greeted them, "Doctor, what is it?" What's 'Bad Wolf?'"

"It's the end of the Universe," the replied breathing deeply.


	31. The Stolen Earth

Still not having the foggiest what was going on, Alice and Donna hurried after the Doctor as he runs out of the TARDIS once it had completely landed with pure panic on his face.

"Doctor, what's supposed to be happening," the young Noble demanded of her boyfriend, only for him to have not heard her, too preoccupied with his current surroundings. As the young woman groaned at herself with frustration having given up takes a look around. The TARDIS seemed to have landed them on the corner of a perfectly normal suburban street, nothing strange or out of the ordinary whatsoever.

"It's fine..." he breathes, glancing around, "Everything's fine," looking to see a milk-cart trundling on down the road before stopping a short way, "Nothing's wrong, it's all fine!" He turned his attention to the milkman, "Excuse me? What day is it?"

"Saturday," the man replied.

"Saturday! Good!" The Time Lord sighed with relief, glancing his eyes back over to the sisters, "Good, I like Saturdays."

Just as Alice rolled her eyes at him when Donna changes the subject, "So... we just met Rose Tyler?"

Now, it just made perfect sense why she didn't care for the woman...maybe because it she was jealous...that the very thought of her taking the Doctor away from her physically hurt.

"Yeah," he replied, continuing to glance around with uncertainty, as if expecting for something to go seriously wrong.

"But it doesn't make sense though," the young Noble stared at her boyfriend, "I remember you telling us she's stuck in a parallel world with no way of getting out."

"Exactly," he offered quickly to his mate turning to her, "If she can cross from her parallel world to your parallel world, then that means the walls of the universe are breaking down, which puts everything in danger. Everything."

"But how?" Alice shook her head still not being able to understand it. The Doctor took the young redheads hand and hurriedly pulled her into the TARDIS, Donna following their lead.

Having let go of her hand the Time Lord got to work on the console, immediately pushing this and pulling that. Alice's gaze upon him as he moved about her arms folded across her chest. Her thoughts returning to Rose again, wanting to say something but didn't, not wanting to even mention her again, feeling if she did that those words wouldn't be friendly...

Seeing Alice wasn't going to say anything soon, her sister did instead, "The thing is, Doctor...no matter what's happening - and I'm sure it's bad," she spoke being careful with her words, "I get that. But... Rose is coming back. Isn't that good?"

Those few moments he didn't react felt like forever to the young Noble, which in turn worried her all the more. Suddenly he looked up with shining eyes, "Yeah..." he whispered smiling widely. Only for it to then falter as he shook his head, "But I..."

Donna puts a hand on her sisters shoulder, knowing what she had asked left an uneasy atmosphere in the air between them, of course...she knew how sad the Doctor had been after losing Rose when she first met him, and right now he doesn't seem...happy as she thought he would be of her return. She knew it was probably a bad idea to bring her up the other girl who had half the Doctor's hearts but her sisters to, but...the question had to be asked. Because she saw that flicker of raw pain in his eyes every time Rose had been mentioned, she wants Alice to see that Rose is his past and she is his future. That he only belonged to her.

"But you what?" the Time Lord heard his mate ask a little harshly for his liking meeting her searching eyes.

Opening his mouth about to respond for the reason of his silence. But in turn completely made Alice more uncertain than before. Just when suddenly the TARDIS gave an almighty crash and shudder, chucking them all to the floor.

"What the hell was that?" The young redhead gasped her sister looking alarmed, helping her up to her feet.

"It came from outside!" the Doctor charged over to the doors. Throwing them wide open nothing but space greeting him, lumps of rock floating around lazily. As he regarded the view with shock.

Alice kept a firm grip on her big sister's hand as they came to join him.

"We're in space... how did that happen?" Donna asked, rather bemused, before actually seeing the Doctor's face. Looking at him now her voice raised in fear, "What did you do?" she demanded instantly.

"Come on sis I'm sure it's not his fault..." Alice reassured her, voice shaking ever so slightly, glancing over at her boyfriend, "Right, Doc?"

Not offering a response, he ran straight back to the console, pulled up the monitor, "We haven't moved," he mumbled incredulously but loud enough for the sisters to hear, "We're fixed," pausing for a moment he frowned, "It can't have... no," he charged back to the doors staring out utterly disconcerted.

"What can't have?" Alice asked now growing concerned.

"The TARDIS is still in the same place," he explained, "But the Earth is gone. The entire planet... it's gone!"

The sisters looked on in shock.

 **-Doctor Who-**

Alice watched her big sister pacing around the console, eyes wide with horror. As she stayed beside the Doctor, trying to believe what is actually happening.

"But... if the Earth's been moved... they've lost the sun," the eldest Noble uttered to herself fearfully. Then looked urgently to the Time Lord, who was immersed in the computer, "What about our Mum? And Grandad? They're dead? Aren't they? Are they dead?"

Hearing those very words, struck dread throughout the young redheads body. How did she not consider this! Only having been too preoccupied thinking of Rose coming back and how she would probably steal the Doctor from her. She just didn't stop to think about her mother or her Gramps...

"But they can't be dead!" Alice spoke loudly, causing Donna to come and put an comforting around her shoulders, "Mum, doesn't have a clue what we're or where we are, she's going worried sick about us!" her eyes started to fill with tears slightly, "We never would of got to tell her, or Gramps how much we loved them, we're stuck up here not knowing what's going on Earth!" she now stared at him with desperation, "Doctor...please tell me they aren't dead? Is everyone on Earth dead?"

He looked up seeing the pain in his mates eyes wishing he could comfort her, "I don't know, Nobles. I just don't know. I'm sorry. I don't know."

"That's my family," Donna cried shaking her head, "My whole world," whispering against her sisters head as the young Noble closed her eyes.

The Time Lord sighed deeply, returning his gaze to the monitor, "There's no readings, nothing," he shook his head rather stumped, "Not a trace. Not even a whisper. Oh, that is..." straightening up a thought comes to him, as he scratched the back of his neck, "...fearsome technology."

"So, what do we do?" the eldest Noble asked her voice trembling as the younger opened her eyes to look at her sister, grabbing her hand tightly. Donna squeezed it, causing Alice to squeeze back.

"We've got to get help."

"From where?"

"From who?" the young redhead added.

The Doctor stared in the sisters direction, looking rather serious, "Ally, Donna... I'm taking you to the Shadow Proclamation. Hold tight," pulling the lever, and the rota began rising and falling.

With that the TARDIS shook violently as it flew all of them trying to hold on tightly to the console for support as the Doctor tried operating the controls...flying faster than they should be.

"Doctor, what is the Shadow Proclamation, anyway?" Alice cried over the shaking.

"Posh name for 'police,' he replied to his mate, "Outer space police. Here we go!"

The TARDIS suddenly gave an almighty lurch. Donna had managed to keep hold but Alice had lost her grip as she fell, landing on top of her boyfriend who was flat on his back.

Alice blushed awkwardly and shook her head pushing herself to her feet, holding out a hand which he took pulling him to his feet, "You need really need to keep a tighter hold on things Doc," she teased slightly.

The Doctor pulled a face at her in response as he brushed himself down before heading over to the doors. The young Noble smiled with amusement. About to follow after him Donna stops her grabbing her arm. Turning to look in her direction.

"What?"

"I never got to ask...how do you feel about Rose coming back?" soon as the question left Donna's lips her sisters smile faded.

Alice shook her head, "Honestly, I don't know what I'm feeling right now."

"But Ally...he was about to say something to you after that," Donna tried to reassure her sister with some hope, "Maybe he..."

Only for her to be cut off, "No, ifs, buts or maybes Donna. He's loves Rose and he's clearly still isn't over her."

"But Ally..."she tried to let Alice her out but got interrupted again.

"Don't ok just...don't because I honestly don't care anymore," Alice shook her head and turned to follow after the Doctor as she heard her sister sighing deeply from behind her. Only to just ignore it.

The Doctor emerges cautiously from the TARDIS, both the sisters emerged following his example. They are greeted by a small group of armed rhinos, who immediately take aim with their guns. The trio held their hands up in surrender.

"What are they?" Alice whispered to the Doctor.

"Judoon," he offered in return.

"Sco po tro no flow jo ko fo to to," the main Judoon called.

"No bo ho so ko ro toe so," the Time Lord replied as the sisters glanced sideways at him with a 'what the hell' expression as he continued, "Bo-ko-do-zo-go-bo-fo-po-jo!" whatever he had said seemed to have worked, as the Judoon lowered their guns,"Ma ho."

 **-Doctor Who-**

Just a couple of minutes later, they are talking to a albino woman who was eyeing them skeptically, who was named the Shadow Architect of the Shadow Proclamation. As they stood in a white spacious room, the perimeter guarded with Judoon. Guns still in their grasp.

"Time Lords are the stuff of legend," she continued to glare at the three, eyeing the young Noble suspiciously making her feel uncomfortable, "They belong in the myths and whispers of the Higher Species. You cannot possibly exist."

"Yeah... more to the point," the Doctor cut in without a care, "I've got a missing planet."

"We've got a missing planet," Alice corrected him tetchily as the sisters came and stood either side of him. Earth was their planet after all, well used to be Alice's planet. Seeing as Ariana was a Time Lord hidden way she could obviously still be detected by the Shadow Proclamation. Maybe someday in the future she would be the Stuff of Legend.

The Architect ignores her as she shared a look with Donna, "Then, you're not as wise as the stories would say," she went on to tell the Time Lord, "The picture is far bigger than you imagine. The whole universe is in outrage, Doctor - twenty-four worlds have been taken from the sky."

An incredulous look appears on his face, "How many? Which ones? Show me!" he demanded when his questions weren't answered. The Doctor ran over to the computer putting on his glasses as the Shadow Architect did as he asked.

"The locations range far and wide," the Architect now explained showing him, "They all disappeared at the exact same moment, leaving no trace."

"Callufrax Minor," he frowned slightly as the names appeared on the screen, "Jahoo, Shallacatop, Woman Wept, Clom..." blinking when he saw the next one voicing his disbelief, "Clom's gone?! Who'd want Clom?"

"All different sizes. Some populated, some not, but all unconnected."

"What about Pyrovilia?" Donna mentioned suddenly. That brought back memories for Alice of Pompeii, where they had their very first adventure together as a group. Good times...but bad circumstances.

"Who is the female?" the Architect eyed her with a sneer.

"Donna," the eldest Noble retorted with a glare not like the other woman's tone, "I'm a Human Being. Maybe not the stuff of legend, but every bit as important as Time Lords, thank you," The Doctor smiled proudly at her while the Architect looked dumbfounded as Alice smirked, "Way back when we were in Pompeii, Lucius said Pyrovillia had gone missing," she now turned to the Time Lord.

"Pyrovillia is cold case," a Judoon replied gruffly, "Not relevant."

"How do you mean, 'cold case?'"

"The planet Pyrovilia cannot be part of this, it disappeared over two-thousand years ago," the Architect simply replied.

"Yes, yes," Donna nodded her head, "The Hang on. But there's the Adipose breeding planet too. Miss Foster said that was lost. But... that must've been a long time ago."

"That's it!" looking up the Doctor beamed at her proudly, "Donna, brilliant!

"I don't get it," Alice frowned as he turned to look at her excitedly.

"The planets have been taken out of time as well as space!" he starts fiddling with the computer, "Let's put this into 3D," holograms of the missing planets start to appear throughout the room, "Now, if we add Pyrovilia..." the planet appears, "And Adipose 3..."pressing a button the other planet shows, then he hummed to himself in thought, "There's something missing..."

Alice didn't want to think of it...but she did, Midnight popped into her head. Her hands started to clam up and she started to shake clenching and unclenching her hands. Donna sees her sisters reaction. But the Time Lord was the one to react to his mate, his voice concerned. As he ignored the computer and took her shaking hands in his.

"Ally, what's wrong?" his asked tone soothing, caressing the tops of her hands with his thumbs. They suddenly stopped shaking.

"Midnight," the young Noble managed to utter to him. Seeing what she was trying to say without having to him.

The Doctor stared back at his mate with a soft lovingly gaze, "Right, the Lost Moon of Poosh. Thank you," he kissed the top of her head affectionately, then she nodded letting out a shaky breath. Keep her one hand tight in his, he input the Lost Moon of Poosh.

Giving her hand a squeeze he passed Alice's hand to Donna, who gave it a grip, now leaning in to her sisters side. Who squeezed her hand, knowing well that she didn't like to think about her time on Midnight.

The Time Lord now walked amongst the planets, stood in middle watching as they shifted into new positions.

"What did you do?" the Architect looked at him with a frown.

"Nothing," he shrugged, "The planets rearranged themselves into the optimum pattern," he now smiled looking at them appreciatively, "Oh... look at that. Twenty-seven planets in perfect balance. Come on, that is gorgeous!"

"Oi!" Donna shouted, bringing him out of his trance, "Don't get all spaceman, what does it mean?"

"All those worlds fit together like pieces of an engine," the Doctor explained, walking back over to stand beside Donna and his mate, "It's like a power house. But what for?"

"Who could design such a thing?" the Architect asked.

"Someone tried to move the Earth once before. A long time ago..." he shook his head deep in thought, "Can't be..."

Alice stared at her boyfriend, "Can't be what?" But he never answered and it worried her. As he just seemed to be lost in his own thoughts like she was.

 **-Doctor Who-**

The young Noble made her way over to the steps, sitting down, lost in all kinds of thought that it was just all too much for her. The Doctor glanced over at her, wanting to know what was on her mind. Sighing he returned to the computer with the Shadow Architect, trying to figure how the planets fit together.

Donna watched him a couple more seconds before going to sit beside her sister on the steps. She watched the planets orbiting each other with a sigh. Glancing at her little sister coming out of her thoughts and was staring at him with somewhat fond smile on her face. Following her gaze to watch the Doctor leaning over the computer, pushing his glasses up his nose with concentration on his face, head tilted slightly to the side.

She scoffed to herself looking at Alice just how she was watching him. Her eyes full of longing for him still, "You know he loves you right."

The young woman nodded in agreement with her, understanding what Donna had said. She looked over at her sister, giving her uncertain expression, "How can you be so sure?"

The eldest Noble rolled her eyes, "Because he looks at you is like you're the most precious thing in the world to him Ally," she nodded towards the Doctor, "I want a man to look at me like he dose someday," she smiles slightly, "We're Nobles after all we don't let anyone get in our way. Right?"

"No, we don't," Alice nodded, then rested her head on Donna's shoulder. As the subject turned back to the current situation, "Can't believe what's happening right now..." she mumbled.

"I know..." Donna whispered back to her stroking her little sisters head, looking at her, biting her bottom lip, "What if they're really dead, Ally?"

For a few silent moments the young Noble said nothing coming away from sisters shoulder, "We can't think like that, Don," she spoke softly, "They could be alive still...so let's not give up hope just yet. The Doctor, will figure out what's going on. Then we'll see Gramps and Mum again...let's just stay positive, okay?"

"Ok, I'll try," she agreed wiping away the tear that threatened to fall returning a weak smile. Alice smiled back, resting her head back on Donna's shoulder, "Love you, Ally."

"I love you too, Donna," she returned quietly eyes closing. Only they didn't stay closed long as a new voice announced itself. Making Donna flinch.

"You need sustenance," Alice lifted her head off her sisters shoulder and gazed up at the Albino servant, she was holding two cups and saucers out to them, "Take the water, it purifies."

"Thanks," Donna said dully taking the water. The younger taking hers too, bringing it to her lips and having a sip. It tasted rather refreshing to her.

For a while there's silence before the servant spoke, "There was something on your back," making the young Noble nearly spit her water out.

"How did you know that?" Donna looked up in alarm.

"You are something new."

Alice knew the type of reaction her sister would give and was right as she shook her head and looked away, "Not me. I'm just a temp. Short hand, filing, a hundred words per minute. Fat lot of good that is now. I'm no use to anyone."

"Donna..." the young redhead started only to get cut off.

"I know what you're going to tell me, Alice but it's true," she sighed, eyes downcast, "I'm useless."

Afterwards she kept quiet. Knowing there was no point in saying anything to her now. Even what she normally said to encourage her, she probably wouldn't believe her. Just like so.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," the servant frowned at the older woman.

"Yeah," she replied in a numb tone as she took her sisters hand as usual, "Our whole planet's gone."

Alice wanted to stay positive, she really did, but the loss of Earth being brought up yet again and having condolences given to them made it that much harder to stay that way.

"I mean the loss that is yet to come," the servant whispered as if it was something deadly. Only to make hairs on the Alice's arms stand up. Only for Donna to stare back and avert her eyes, "God save you." The servant leaves them.

Once gone, the young redhead rubbed her arms as she looked to Donna, "What do you think she meant by that?"

But she simply didn't know how to respond.

It's now the Doctor comes over to the Noble sisters, "Donna, Ally, come on, think," now leaning against the banister near them, "Earth. There must've been some sort of warning. Was there anything happening back in your day, like... electrical storms, freak weather, patterns in the sky?"

"Well, how should I know?" Donna sighed, not really in the mood, "Um... no. I don't think so, no."

The Time Lord sighed in return, straightening up, "Oh, okay. Never mind."

It only took Alice a moment to think before it struck her, "Well..." she starts off as he looked over at her, "Donna did tell you a few times about the bees disappearing."

"Do you remember me telling you about the bees?" Donna cut in recalling to him the times she mentioned it.

"The bees disappearing?" He asked them sarcastically, not taking them seriously at first. Only to perk up with realisation a few seconds later, "The BEES disappearing."

The young Noble rolled her eyes in disbelief, "Well, yes Mr. Know-It-All," she snapped tetchily mood not entirely her own, but Ariana's as the locket heated a little unpleasantly against her chest. She obviously didn't appreciate her fellow Time Lords sarcastic manner, "The bees disappearing. You wanted something weird currently happening on Earth, there's your answer."

"Sorry," the Doctor winced slightly from Ariana coming out briefly to tell him off. Pausing he stays silent for only a moment as his eyes slowly widen, "The bees disappearing!" he yelled with realisation, grabbing his mates shoulders briefly grinning at her. Before running over the computer.

"How is that significant?" the Shadow Architect gave him an odd look.

"On Earth, we have these insects," Donna explained as she rush over with her sister, "Some people said it was pollution or mobile phone signals."

"Or... they were going back home."

Alice asked with a raised eyebrow, "Bees have a home?"

"Yes. The planet Melissa Majoria more specifically," he answered.

"Are you saying bees are aliens?"

The Time Lord rolls his eyes, "Don't be so daft. Not all of them."

"Right," Alice returned sarcastically, "Because that's believable."

He continued to ramble on ignoring his mate, "But, if the migrant bees felt something, some sort of danger, and escaped... Tandocca!"

"The Tandocca Scale," the Architect's eyes widened understanding what he meant.

That's when, the Doctor started talking, faster than either the sisters had heard him. To say that was rather something.

"The Tandocca Scale is a series of wavelengths used as carrier signals by migrant bees. Infinitely small, no wonder we didn't see it. It's like looking for a speck of cinnamon in the Sahara. But look!" He excitedly pointed at the screen, "There it is! The Tandocca trail," Alice sees him pointing to a blue trail of light, "The transmat that moved that planets was using the same wavelength! We can follow the path!"

Knowing what this meant, the young Noble grinned, "We can find the Earth!" she exclaimed with excitement with Doctor equally grinning as she turned to beam at him with joy.

While Donna was already making a head start towards the TARDIS, "Well, stop talking and do it!" she cried enthusiastically.

With one last grin at his mate he grabbed her hand and they ran after Donna hot on her trail, "I am!" Once inside the TARDIS, he darted straight the monitor as the sisters gripped hands excitedly

"We're a bit late," he mumbled adjusting some controls, bringing up the map, "The signal's scattered, but it's a start!" He runs back to the doors poking his head out to see the Architect and Judoon standing there, "I've got a blip! It's just a blip, but it's definitely a blip."

"Then according to the strictures of the Shadow Proclamation, I will have to seize your transport and your technology," the Architect stated.

"Oh, really?" He asked with a frown, taken aback, "What for?"

"The planets were stolen with hostile intent. We are declaring war, Doctor! Right across the universe! And you will lead us into battle!"

"Right..." the Time Lord responded slowly, not too crazy on the idea, "Yes. Course I will. Just go and... get you a key."

Moving slowly back inside he slammed the TARDIS doors shut, with no absolutely intention of turning back. Flings his coat over one of the supports joining the sisters at the console. Throwing them both a cheeky grin which they returned equally as he pulled a lever.

 **-Doctor Who-**

The TARDIS shook them about like it usually did when in flight as the rotor rose and fell. As they held onto the console for dear life, just like the many times before. But suddenly, the unexpected happened. When it just came to a complete stop, like it had run out of track.

Kind of worrying to the Doctor when she hasn't done this before as he stared up at the rotor with shock, "It's stopped..."

Concern flickered across Alice's face, "But why?" she asked her hand grazing the console with concern the movement not her own as the necklace itches slightly against her skin.

"What do you mean?" Donna now questioned, "Is that good or bad? Where are we?"

He observes the monitor, "The Medusa Cascade," he stared at it reminiscing about the past, "I came here when I was just a kid. Ninety years old. It was the centre of a rift in time and space."

"So... where are the twenty-seven planets?" Donna asked as the sisters looked over his shoulders.

"Nowhere," he responded quietly, "The Tandocca Trail stops dead."

That's when Alice's jaw dropped open, "You can't be serious?"

The Doctor's serious eyes, met his mates showing that he wasn't lying.

Only for her to slowly shake her head before whispering, "No."

"End of the line," staring down at his feet, the Time Lord now leaned back against a Y-beam.

Donna swallowed nervously, "So, what do we do? Doctor? What do we do?"

But he didn't say a word looking up staring into nothingness, looking defeated. Alice had never seen such an expression on his face before. It looked to her like he was giving up. But...he's the Doctor...he never gives up.

"Don't do this," Donna now started to plead desperately, shaking her head with denial. Her voice lowered to a whisper, "No, don't. Don't do this to me. Not now. Tell us what we're going to do!"

"There has to be something we can do, Doctor!" the young Noble shouted at him, "We can't just give up hope, not yet!"

Donna frowned, she had never seen the Time Lord uncharacteristically hopeless before and frankly it was scaring her, "You never give up! Please!"

Again he still didn't give them any kind of response. Alice's eyes filled up with tears as her sister covered a hands over her mouth shaking. The young Noble wrapped her arms around herself. Questioning herself. Why did this have to happen? To her family? To the Earth?

But the answers to those questions would have to wait, as the young redhead could faintly hear something. It was a subtle beeping sound, but she couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

' _Help him Alice, Rassilion knows he needs a kick up the backside,_ ' the voice of Ariana whispered in her head with encouragement. Alice nodded touching her locket briefly.

"Doctor!" she called, snapping him out of his funk, "Can you hear that?"

He gave his mate a thoroughly confused look, "Hear what?"

"The beeping!"

At first he didn't say anything, as he tried to listen. The silence in the room making it easier for him to hear what Alice was, "I hear it!" Soon as he spoke, a mobile phones ringing suddenly filled the air, "PHONE!"

"Doctor, phone!" Donna exclaimed with excitement.

As the Time Lord ran to quickly answer it phone to his ear, "Martha, is that you?!" he hesitated slightly, only to hear the beep from earlier, "It's a signal..."

"Do you think we can we follow it?" the young asked enthusiastically.

He grabbed the phone holding the stethoscope to it, grinning at the sisters, "Oh, just watch me!" the Doctor places the phone in front of the monitor continuing to hold the stethoscope to it.

"Got it!" he shouted, "Locking on!" he pulled a lever making the TARDIS shudder, sending them flying all over the place, sparks flying from the console. It caused Alice to yelp as her hands had been resting on the console when it happened. Jumping back she gripped on to Donna both of them clinging on to each other for dear life. Suddenly the console burst into flames. Alice and Donna gasping with fear as the TARDIS violently shook.

"Doctor, what's happening?!" Alice inquires loudly, eyes wide.

"We're travelling through time! One second in the future!" the Doctor shouted above the commotion, "The phone call's pulling us through!"

Not having to ask Alice knew this was a good thing. Because they would be one step closer to finding the Earth.

"THREE! TWO! ONE!"

Holding on to each other tightly, they screamed wildly as if riding a rollercoaster. The young Nobles heart pounding with excitement. As outside the TARDIS was being pulled through the rift, one by one the planets appeared. The fire dies down as the TARDIS slowed and stopped shaking. Letting go of each other they straightened up.

"That was a rough ride," Alice said brushing herself down before looking at the monitor, with Donna and her boyfriend. As they all stared at the screen grinning, seeing the planets.

"The twenty-seven planets!" Donna cried with delight, the sisters giving each other a high five, "And there's the Earth! But why couldn't we see it?"

"The entire Medusa Cascade has been put a second out of sync with the rest of the universe," he explains to them, "Perfect hiding place, tiny little pocket of time. But we found them!"

There's a whirring noise and the screen starts to get blurry

"Oh, oh... what's that?" the Time Lord frowned curiously, "Hold on, hold on..." he turns a knob and peers at the monitor, "Some sort of... subwave network."

The image clears up and a grid of webcams appeared on screen. With them being one of them. Alice didn't know who the other people were, except for Martha who she had met once before. There was rather good-looking bloke on there that she would snap up in a heartbeat. But sadly she was taken.

The man laughed with relief, before anger filled his voice, "Where the hell have you been?! Doctor, it's the Daleks!"

"Ooh, he's a bit nice," a Welsh woman with dark shoulder length hair complimented staring at the screen, "I thought he'd be older."

"He's not that young," the man on the other side of Jack informed her.

"It's the Daleks!" the kind looking, older woman with brown hair exclaims. A teenage boy standing by her side, "They're taking people to their spaceship!"

The older woman and Martha start to jabber over each other as the Doctor, Donna and Alice looked, a happy smile growing on his face.

"But it's not just Dalek Caan!" Martha added.

"Sarah Jane!" He beamed crying joyously, "Who's that boy? That must be Torchwood. Aren't they brilliant?" Alice could see he was all so fond of them, "Look at you all, you clever people!"

"That's Martha!" Donna gasped excitedly, as Martha waves, "And who's..." she then pointed at the screen with a mischievous look, "... he?"

"Captain Jack," he introduced before shaking his finger at the eldest Noble in warning, "Don't! Just... don't."

"Ooh, a Captain. That's right up your street Don!" Alice smirked nodding at Jack the screen, who only smirked back at her and not her sister.

"Well thank you beautiful."

"Hey, don't you even start!" the Doctor groaned getting a little protective.

The young Noble rolled her eyes, ignoring the fact he was frowning deeply at her as Donna smirked knowingly at the Time Lord. Seeing her alone only knowing of her sister and the Doctors relationship.

Attention returned back to the monitor as the Doctor looked between everyone, like he was searching for someone. Alice had this sinking feeling that it was Rose. So she just pursued her lips.

"It's like... an outer-space Facebook!"

"Everyone except Rose..." he mumbled to himself, only for Alice to have heard him as her smiled faded.

She directly gazed down at her feet and feels Donna taking her hand. She knew it was her without even looking. As Donna now frowned starting uneasily at the Time Lord. Hoping that he knew where his hearts truly belonged that he would spare her sister from heartbreak and to put Rose in the past.

Suddenly, the screen turned to white noise and everyone got lost.

"Ah..."

"We've lost them!" the eldest Noble cried anxiously.

No, no, no, no, no! the Doctor turned another knob, "There's another signal coming through, there's someone else out there," he gave the top monitor a bash, "Hello? Can you hear me? Rose."

He now stared at the monitor hopefully, breathing heavily, waiting...

"Your voice is different, and yet, its arrogance is unchanged," he frozen as the familiar, raspy voice answered.

Alice looked on at him with concern, she let go of Donna to touch his arm, "Doctor?" all of a sudden, his arm wrapped around her waist, pulled her tightly against his side, rather protectively. It surprised her certainly, but she wasn't complaining, as she her arms around his waist. As Alice felt Ariana's fear, the locket warming against her unpleasantly.

Just then, the image cleared as a strange yet revolting creature emerges from the shadows, shedding light on it's disturbing form.

"Welcome... to my new Empire, Doctor," he grinned menacingly. As Donna took a step back with revulsion, "It is only fitting that you should bear witness to the resurrection and the triumph of Davros, Lord and Creator of the Dalek Race."

The Doctor's mouth hung open frozen as Alice saw the fear in her boyfriends eyes and a sudden wave of protectiveness from Ari flooded over her, causing her to grip him tighter.

"Doctor?"

"Have you nothing to say?" Davros demanded of him.

"Leave him alone you parasite!" Ariana now channeled through the young Noble with a growl turning to see the Doctor through the young woman's eyes. Her hand lifting up and brushing her fingertips against the skin of his cheek. Leaning into it, the Doctor closed his eyes.

' _It's ok, Kas. We're in the TARDIS she'll keep us safe. Everything will be ok,_ ' he gasped hearing Ariana's voice inside his head again after all these years, trying to reassure him. As her forehead pressed against his.

' _Ari, this is dangerous what your doing it could kill her!_ ' He spoke seriously knowing the consequences could be dire for Alice, with a Time Lord communicating telepathically through a human.

'I _know and I'm sorry,_ ' she apologised some sadness behind it.

'Sorry for what?' he asked, but it was too late Ariana had gone. As the young Noble now groaned in pain her hand slipping from his cheek. He held onto Alice firmly trying to keep his cool, as he passed her over to a puzzled Donna wondering what had just happened between them. Because now she looked rather a little pale in complexion then she was a few moments before. As she cradled Alice against her chest as the young woman clung onto her.

"But you were destroyed," the Doctor tried to stay collected but his voice shook, "In the very first year of the Time War, at the Gates of Elysiem. I saw your command ship flying into the jaws of the Nightmare Child. I tried to save you..."

"But it took one stronger than you," Davros remarked, "Dalek Caan himself."

"I flew into the wild and fire," Dalek Caan appeared behind him, singing insanely, "Danced and died a thousand times!"

"Emergency temporal shift took him back into the Time War itself."

The Time Lords eyes widened with disbelief his voice filling with anger, "But that's impossible, the entire War is time-locked."

"Who is your poorly friend?" he eyed the pale young redhead in the older redheads arms, "Something familiar about her."

"You leave her out of this!" the Doctor almost spat, getting all protective of his mate. She looked ill still Ariana most of drained plenty of the young Nobles energy to do what she had did which was rather worrying.

Davros only smirked. He could recognise a Time Lady when saw one, especially one that was hidden in plain sight, and the protectiveness the Doctor was displaying said it all...going beyond that of the species, "Ah, a Link of course."

And yet, he succeeded," Davros gave a laugh, "Oh, it cost him his mind, but imagine - a single, simple Dalek succeeded where Emperors and Time Lords have failed. A testament, don't you think, to my remarkable creations?"

"And you made a new race of Daleks."

"I gave myself to them. Quite literally. Each one grown from a cell of my own body," he pulled open his leather suit revealing his rotten, emaciated body, his ribs and heart visible.

Alice looked up weakly and shuddered now feeling nauseous, "Uh, think I'm gonna be sick."

"New Daleks. True Daleks. I have my children, Doctor. What do you have, now?"

"After all this time..." the Doctor began shaking his head, barley breaking through his anger or shock, "Everything we saw, everything we lost... I have only one thing to say to you," he glared back at him, before cutting him off shouting with maniac energy. Pulled a lever, "BYE!"

 **-Doctor Who-**

The TARDIS materialises in front of a church. The Doctor, Donna and Alice stepping out on to a deserted road. It was filled with abandoned cars, parked haphazardly, overturned pushchairs and bikes, litter scattered everywhere, and how unnaturally silent it was. Made the young Noble unsettled and it didn't help from the dog she could hear barking in distance.

"It's like a ghost town," Donna muttered uneasily.

"Sarah Jane said that they were taking the people. But what for?," he muttered under his breathe before turning to Donna, lightly gripping her shoulders urging her to remember, "Think, Donna. When you met Rose in that parallel world, what did she say?"

"Just... the darkness is coming."

"Anything else?" he urged her again.

Donna considers this for a moment and opens her mouth, but something catches her gaze. Alice follows it and finds Rose standing at the far end of the street. Their eyes meet, as the blondes gaze hardened. Why is she giving her that look for?

But then it comes back to her that gaze from her memories of the parallel world remembering exactly why she didn't like Rose. Just glares at her, she was the one that is love with the Doctor. The one who almost got Donna killed if she hadn't intervened.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Donna spoke up, barely hiding a smile.

The Doctor gave her a confused look, before turning to follow her gaze, eyes widening as he sees Rose standing there, on the far end of the street, holding a rather large gun. He looks back at Alice, she sees the pained look in his eyes, "Ally..." searching her eyes, wanting her to understand that he loves just her, that he has missed Rose, yes, but not wanting her to misunderstand that he only ever missed her as a companion, "I..."

The young Noble shook her head and nodded to the blonde who was running down the street, "Just go," he smiles and quickly pecked her cheek before giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. He turned to run down the street. She saw Donna roll her eyes and shake her head and was about to turn and ask her sister what it was.

Before something catches her eye she could see a Dalek gliding out of the shadows, "Doctor!" Alice cried, "Watch out!"

"Exterminate!" the Dalek called.

Thankful for his Mates warning the Doctor stopped running to turn around. But it was too late as the laser barely skims his chest, but damaging him enough to send him to the floor.

"NO, DOCTOR!" the young Noble screamed as she started running towards him, with the energy she had.

"ALICE!" Donna hollered after, but she was just too focused on getting to her boyfriend not caring if she might get hurt.

Now reaching him, Alice collapsed to her knees by his side shoving Rose aside, scraping the bottoms of her palms but she didn't care, tears filling her eyes as she pulled him into her arms. His eyes are closed and he was barley breathing.

"Doctor, wake up!" Alice pleaded, cradling him against her chest voice rising in fear, "Please, don't die! You can't...you just can't leave me please...I love you...you idiot..." she trailed off, "Don't...you dare think of changing on me just yet! I'll kick your bloody ass if you do! Do you understand me?!"

The Doctor's eyes managed to open as he chuckled weakly. Donna now dropping down beside her sister, "Ally, how could I not? You were practically yelling...into my ear," he jokes trying to lighten the situation.

The young redheads eyes welled up a tear rolling down her cheek, happy to now see his eyes opened, "That's not even funny, Doc!"

"I'm sorry."

"Only you would make a joke about getting shot," Donna teased weakly, squeezing his hand.

But suddenly out of nowhere, he convulsed in pain as Alice tried gripping tightly to him only for her sister to pull her away with a struggle, "No," shaking her head, "Don't change yet. Don't you dare!"

"Get him into the TARDIS, quick," Jack ordered urgently, "Move!"

Between Donna, Rose and Alice they managed to guide the Doctor to his feet as Jack grabbed Rose's gun off the floor, scanned the area quickly for any threats. Getting back inside the TARDIS the Doctor was laid at base of the console, Alice trying her best not to flinch when he moaned in pain. She went to retake her spot by his side, but Rose had shoved her way in first, cradling him in her arms. Alice glared at her, a spike protectiveness and jealousy hitting at once.

"What...what do we do?" Donna looked at the pair, "There must be some medicine or something!"

Jack threw the guns down on the seats, "Just step back," turning to look at the blonde, "Rose! Do as I say, and get back!" But she just wouldn't listen staying put, "He's dying, and you know what happens next."

Donna gasped. Having remembered many months ago after she had found out about Alice being a Time Lord. That the Doctor had explained regeneration to her, but she never thought having to watch him go through it.

"But you can't... not now, I came all this way," Rose whispered through her tears.

"What do you mean?" Donna breathed, looking about frantically, "What happens next? Is he doing that regeneration thing?"

Nobody had time to answer as the Time Lord groaned holding out his hand that was now glowing in orange light, "It's starting..." he breathed, as his whole body starting to glow.

"Here we go!" Jack pulled the girls and Donna a safe distance from the Doctor, "Good luck, Doctor!"

"I'm sorry," he looked at them, his gaze settling on Alice's tear stained face. He winced with pain, struggling to stay upright, "It's too late. I'm regenerating!"

He threw his head back, arms wide, the orange energy exploded out of his skin, erupting from his face and hands. The others looked away from the intensity of it but Alice refused to look as she gripped tightly to Donna's hand.


	32. Journey's End Teaser

Orange energy continued to blasting from the Doctor...when suddenly an idea came to him. He directs his energy into his hand underneath the console. It bubbles and glows as the energy coursed through it, the hand inside twitching uncontrollably from the sudden gain of energy.

The regeneration suddenly stopped before the others eyes, as the golden light faded away. Alice seeing him still looking the same as always, brown suit and beige converse as he stumbled backwards with a gasp.

Now shaking his head, the Time Lord grinned at everyone who were staring back in shock, "Now, then. Where were we?" He asks cheekily with a grin before darting back over to the console.

"I don't think that was supposed to happen," Alice muttered as Donna nodded slowly in agreement.

"No definitely not," the eldest Noble said, staring at the Doctor rather stunned.

The Doctor stops and gets on all fours before his the severed hand in the jar, "There, now..." he spoke softly as continued to bubble and glow. He blew onto it gently, and it calms down. He now smiled with delight, as he sat himself up, "You see?" he announced to the others with a pointed tone beaming at them, "Used the regeneration energy to heal myself, but as soon as that was done, I didn't need to change. I didn't want to, why would I?" standing up and tweaking his tie with a rather smug expression on his face, "Look at me!"

Right then a joyful laugh escaped Alice, unable to help herself. He had scared the living daylights out of her earlier. Thinking that she would never see that face of his again. So, before she could even stop herself, Alice threw herself at her boyfriend and hugged him tight. Feeling the vibrations of his chest when he laughed and hugged her just as tightly.

"Thank God, you're ok!" she exclaims, gazing up at him eyes sparkling with joy.

"Oh, you know me Alice! I'm always okay!" he laughed again tightening his arms around her more.

They stayed in that embrace for a few minutes, before Alice broke away slightly and gave him a serious look, "Never scare me like that again, we got that, Doctor?"

The Doctor softly smiled down at her, "Got it Ally," he leaned forward, lovingly kissing her forehead. Closing her eyes the young Noble cherished the feeling, while not seeing Rose staring daggers into their backs.

"So!" he now continued stepping away from his mate as she stood back beside Donna, "To stop the energy going all the way, I siphoned off the rest into a handy bio-matching receptacle...namely, my hand. My hand, there. My handy spare hand," he gives Rose a glance, "Remember? Christmas Day? Sycorax? Lost my hand in a sword fight? That's my hand!" Rose slowly looked up from the hand to the Doctor, uncertain, "What do you think?"

She edged forward carefully, the others watching on from behind, "And... you're still you?"

He confirmed this with a nod and a twinkle in his eye, "I'm still me," with that Rose hugged him tightly, her face burying into his shoulder, eyes squeezed shut in joy. Donna looked to see Alice tense up with jealousy folding her arms across her chest.


	33. Journey's End Part 1

Orange energy continued to blasting from the Doctor...when suddenly an idea came to him. He directs his energy into his hand underneath the console. It bubbles and glows as the energy coursed through it, the hand inside twitching uncontrollably from the sudden gain of energy.

The regeneration suddenly stopped before the others eyes, as the golden light faded away. Alice seeing him still looking the same as always, brown suit and beige converse as he stumbled backwards with a gasp.

Now shaking his head, the Time Lord grinned at everyone who were staring back in shock, "Now, then. Where were we?" He asks cheekily with a grin before darting back over to the console.

"I don't think that was supposed to happen," Alice muttered as Donna nodded slowly in agreement.

"No definitely not," the eldest Noble said, staring at the Doctor rather stunned.

The Doctor stops and gets on all fours before his the severed hand in the jar, "There, now..." he spoke softly as continued to bubble and glow. He blew onto it gently, and it calms down. He now smiled with delight, as he sat himself up, "You see?" he announced to the others with a pointed tone beaming at them, "Used the regeneration energy to heal myself, but as soon as that was done, I didn't need to change. I didn't want to, why would I?" standing up and tweaking his tie with a rather smug expression on his face, "Look at me!"

Right then a joyful laugh escaped Alice, unable to help herself. He had scared the living daylights out of her earlier. Thinking that she would never see that face of his again. So, before she could even stop herself, Alice threw herself at her boyfriend and hugged him tight. Feeling the vibrations of his chest when he laughed and hugged her just as tightly.

"Thank God, you're ok!" she exclaims, gazing up at him eyes sparkling with joy.

"Oh, you know me Alice! I'm always okay!" he laughed again tightening his arms around her more.

They stayed in that embrace for a few minutes, before Alice broke away slightly and gave him a serious look, "Never scare me like that again, we got that, Doctor?"

The Doctor softly smiled down at her, "Got it Ally," he leaned forward, lovingly kissing her forehead. Closing her eyes the young Noble cherished the feeling, while not seeing Rose staring daggers into their backs.

"So!" he now continued stepping away from his mate as she stood back beside Donna, "To stop the energy going all the way, I siphoned off the rest into a handy bio-matching receptacle...namely, my hand. My hand, there. My handy spare hand," he gives Rose a glance, "Remember? Christmas Day? Sycorax? Lost my hand in a sword fight? That's my hand!" Rose slowly looked up from the hand to the Doctor, uncertain, "What do you think?"

She edged forward carefully, the others watching on from behind, "And... you're still you?"

He confirmed this with a nod and a twinkle in his eye, "I'm still me," with that Rose hugged him tightly, her face burying into his shoulder, eyes squeezed shut in joy. Donna looked to see Alice tense up with jealousy folding her arms across her chest.

- **Doctor** **Who-**

"Are you alright, Ally?" Donna asked her sister quietly as they gathered around the console.

Alice dosen't look at her sister still glaring in at a certain someone with the Doctor, talking quietly and smiling, "What do you think?" she questioned sarcastically. As she felt her sister staring at her with concern. She saw that Donna was about to say something , when the power suddenly cuts out.

The Doctor quickly shuffled around, trying out different buttons, "They've got us. Power's gone... some kind of chronon loop!"

Then there's an almighty crash and TARDIS tilts dangerously to one side, nearly knocking everyone to the floor. The Doctor managing to hold on sees that they are being pulled up towards a large planet sized ship.

"There's a massive Dalek ship at the centre of the planets," Jack commented catching a glimpse of the screen just as he pulled himself up, "They're calling it the Crucible. Guess that's our destination."

"You said these planets were like an engine," Donna said turning to the Doctor, who was staring across the console at Alice, who for some reason was avoiding his gaze, "But what for?"

Frowning for a moment wondering what's wrong before spinning around to face Rose, "Rose!" the blonde looks up at him, "You've been in a parallel world, that world's running ahead of this universe - you've seen the future, what was it?"

"It's the darkness," she offered sadly.

Donna recalled with a nod, "The stars were going out."

That wasn't the only thing Alice remembered.

"One by one. We looked up at the sky and they were just dying," Rose starts to explain, "Basically, we've been building this um... this travel machine, this... uh... Dimension Cannon, so I could... well, so I could..." She trailed off not able to get the words out.

"What?" The Time Lord raised his eyebrows in hesitation.

"So I could come back!" She shouted obviously with a roll of her eyes as he beamed back at her, "Shut up...! Anyway, suddenly, it started to work. And the dimensions started to collapse," that's when his smile faded, "Not just in our world - not just in yours - but the whole of reality, even the Void was dead. Something is... destroying everything."

"Which, technically means what's happening is your fault," the young Noble blurts out in frustration.

"What?"

"If you weren't that desperate to back here, back to the Doctor, none of this would be happening!" Her voice now full of anger.

"Alice…" The Doctor tried to say something.

"No!" she exclaimed in anger, "Don't you dare stick up for her! She's the one in the wrong here! You were the one that said parallel worlds are sealed off and that you couldn't try getting back because it would tear apart the fabric of reality which is exactly what is happening! How are not pissed off?! Has she blinded you that much?!"

"I.." he nervously glanced at Rose.

Alice shook her head with disbelief willing her heart not break, "I don't want to hear it. Would you like to know what your precious Rose did in that parallel world me and Donna were in? She sent Donna back in time to stop something from happening, didn't even care if anything happened to my sister! She only cared about fixing everything just to find you, being a self centred little bitch!" Her voice rose more, "If I hadn't gone back with Donna, my sister would of died! So I pushed her out the way, took her place killing myself instead!"

The Time Lord looked at Rose in shock, "Tell me this isn't true?"

"It…it wasn't like that!" She protested stumbling over her words, "I wanted to get back to you…and I didn't care what I needed to do to get back here!" the last thing to leave her lips was something she would regret.

Those words made him shake his head disbelievingly at her, "I can't believe that you…" his voice full of disappointment as the young woman bowed her head with guilt.

"In that parallel world... Donna began, to change the subject the best she could, "...you said something about me."

Rose looked up to the eldest Noble, completely avoiding the Doctor's gaze, "The Dimension Cannon could measure timelines, and it's... it's weird, Donna, but they all seem to converge on you."

"But why me? I mean... what have I ever done? I'm a temp from Chiswick!"

The computer now bleeped and the Doctor checked the monitor, forgetting what he had learned Rose had did for now but it wouldn't be forgotten, "The Dalek Crucible," he remarked quietly, "All aboard..."

Only a moment or so later the TARDIS crash landed. It wasn't big one but enough to topple them slightly.

"Doctor!" The Supreme Dalek called from outside the TARDIS, "You and the hidden Time Lady will step forth or die!"

Rose wondered who they were talking about. Until, she saw the Doctor gazing at Alice our the corner of his eye with concern who was touching the locket around her neck. Her fingers grazing over the Gallifreyan, the language of the Time Lords and Ladies. Something she hadn't paid close attention to until now. As her eyes widened in shock.

"We'll have to go out," the Doctor said, briefly glancing at his mate before retuning his fearful gaze to the doors, "'Cos if we don't, they'll get in."

"You told me nothing could get through those doors!" Rose turns to look at him in alarm.

"You've got extrapolator shielding."

The Time Lord now turned to Rose and Jack his expression serious, "Last time we fought the Daleks, they were scavengers and hybrids and mad. But this is a fully fledged Dalek Empire... at the height of its power. Experts at fighting TARDISes, they can do anything," Jack and Rose's eyes widen in understanding of the situation, "Right now, that wooden door... is just wood."

Alice came over to him, took the Doctor's hand squeezing it in comfort. In response, he looked down at her. Staring at her for a moment before bringing her tightly to his chest, kissing the top of her head lovingly. He honestly didn't care for the glare that Rose was giving them.

"What about your Dimension Jump?" Jack suggests to Rose.

"It needs another twenty minutes, and anyway, I'm not leaving," she declared in response.

The young Noble rolled her eyes, "Oh, how unfortunate," she muttered sarcastically to herself, not caring that Rose had probably heard it.

"What about your teleport?" the Doctor looked to Jack.

"Went down with the power-loss."

"Right then," the Doctor swallowed harshly, "All of us together... yeah?"

She then frowned realising Donna hadn't said anything, looking over she sees her sister has a distant look on her face not paying attention to anything around her.

"Donna?" she called with concern, but nothing, "Doctor!" she squeezed his hand tightly for his attention nodding at her sister. That's when she heard it a faint single heartbeat inside her mind as the locket warmed against her.

Letting go of Alice immediately, he went over to her concerned, "Donna?" snapping her out of the trance he grabbed her shoulders, "Donna."

"Yeah?" she now looked up to him shaking her head.

"I'm sorry," he now said, drawing the others attention back to him, "There's nothing else we can do."

"No, I know," Donna nodded understanding.

Smiling sadly, he nodded before mouthing 'ok' and turned towards the door. As Alice went up to her big sister placing a hand on her shoulder.

"What was that?" she questioned.

"I don't know..." she shrugged, "I thought...I thought I heard something that's all."

The young Noble frowned knowing well that she had definitely heard what Donna probably had. But she tries to pretend that she didn't.

"Surrender, Doctor, and face your Dalek masters!" the Supreme Dalek ordered

"Crucible on maximum alert!" a Dalek is heard reporting.

"Daleks," Rose laughed nervously, "Heh!"

"Oh, God!" Jack groaned.

Both of them laughed tensely, both watching the Doctor, so absolutely confident in him.

"It's been good, though, hasn't it?" he now stared at them all fondly.

Hearing him say that made Alice shake her head as she stepped towards him, "Don't start getting all mushy, Doc. Everything's going to be ok...it always is..."

He meets his mates gaze, "Of course it will, but just in case..."

"Doctor..."

He smiles softly at her, "All of us... all of it... everything we did..." he looked to Donna who gave a wide smile and nodded, "You were brilliant," he now looked to Jack, "And you were brilliant," who grinned as the Doctor turns to Rose even if he was still disappointed in what she had did gave a warm smile, "And you were brilliant," Rose smiled sadly.

Which now left Alice for last, as the Time Lord chuckled fondly giving her a look that made her feel warm inside as he cupped her cheek, "Alice…it's been amazing knowing you..." he tells her other hand fiddling with her locket, "You're very special to me…"

Her eyes started to tear up, "Doctor...I love you…"she whispered sadly wrapping her arms around his neck, bringing their lips together in a gentle yet passionate kiss.

Breaking the kiss the Doctor sighed deeply resting their foreheads together, staring into each eyes as he brushed a hair behind his mates ear, "I'll love you always don't ever forget that," he kissed her forehead.

After seeing what she had Rose's smile faded into a frown, she saw it there in the looks they gave each other, Alice wasn't just Alice to the Doctor. She wasn't just a Time Lady but so much more. Maybe it was something she would have to accept that the Doctor has truly moved on.

"Blimey," the Doctor gave a resigned sigh before turning to the doors again, Rose and Jack following, along with the Nobles. He hesitates for a moment before pushing the doors open and stepping out.

"All right here goes nothing," the young Noble muttered to herself nervously about to follow after the others. Turning back around she noticed her sister in a trance like state again.

"Daleks reign supreme! All hail the Daleks! Daleks reign supreme! All hail the Daleks! Daleks reign supreme! All hail the Daleks!"

Alice stepped back hearing the heartbeat echoing in her head again, "Donna?" she called to but it seemed she didn't hear, "Donna?"

"Daleks reign supreme!" the Daleks call from outside, "All hail the Daleks! Daleks reign supreme! All hail the Daleks!"

The young Noble looks over her shoulder to the massive ship outside the TARDIS, the air thick with chanting.

"Donna!"

"Behold, Doctor," the Supreme Dalek began, "Behold the might of the true Dalek Race."

Having gained her sister's attention again it seemed to draw Alice away from what was happening outside and to Donna who was now staring at the console, looking confused, "Don, what is it?"

"Sorry sis, don't know what came over me," she shook her head and muttered made her way towards the door and her sister.

The Doctor squared up, ready to face anything with Alice at his side, "Donna? Ally? It's no safer in there..."

"Ok, we're coming!" she called back turning her head, before giving Donna a gentle nudge, "Right, finally let's go."

But soon as Alice finished speaking the TARDIS doors slammed shut on them with no warning.

"Doctor!" the young Noble screamed, now banging her fists on the door, as her sister rattled the handle, "Let us out! What did you do?"

"It wasn't me, I didn't do anything!" he called frantically through the door.

"Well we didn't do anything genius!" Alice exclaimed sarcastically.

"Oi! Oi, we're not staying behind!" Donna screeched, as she now starts banging the door.

"What did you do?" they heard the Doctor demand.

"This is not of Dalek origin."

"Doctor!" both the sisters yelled now banging on the doors together.

"Stop it!" He shouted angrily, "That's my friend and my mate in there. Now, open the door and let them out!"

"This is Time Lord treachery!" a Dalek yelled.

"Me?! The door just closed on its own!"

"Oh, who bloody cares, just get us out!" The young Noble cried with exasperation rolling her eyes.

"Nevertheless: the TARDIS is a weapon and it will be destroyed," the Supreme Dalek ordered. Just outside the Doctor watched in horror as a hole opened in the floor and the TARDIS fell with the Noble sisters still inside.

The siblings felt the TARDIS suddenly falling, stumbling around as they fell down…further and further. As they fell, both held onto each other tightly. At least they were going to face death together and that's all Alice could ask for…


	34. Journey's End Part 2

Alice's lost hold of her sisters grip who was still holding onto the railing. As the TARDIS continued falling, tilting and spinning wildly.

"Alice!" the eldest Noble screamed, stretching her hand out to reach for her. But it was no use and her sister fell to the ground hard. During the process, the young redhead hits her head hard on the floor knocking her out completely.

The young Noble didn't stay unconscious for long chaos greeting her when she finally came to. Sparks were flying everywhere, glass smashing around her. There was thick smoke clouding her vision making it impossible to see. She could hear Donna coughing and spluttering.

"Donna!" she chokes out, crawling through the smoke towards her sister. Managing to find her, on hands and knees, next to the console.

"Ally..." Donna managed to say in relief as Alice grabbed hold of her tightly.

"I'm here...I'm here..." the young redhead reassured her big sister, as they gripped each other tightly with fear.

Donna started coughing and panting again as her little sister rubbed her back, suddenly for it to stop the older woman's eyes glancing at something. The young woman followed her sisters gaze to the Doctor's hand in a container, that was glowing orange, shining brightly in their faces. It had caught both of the Nobles in a trace the heartbeat filling both their heads.

 _'Alice, whatever you do don't let Donna touch that hand!_ ' Ariana called in warning inside the young woman's head. But it seemed the heartbeat was drowning her out. She knew the consequences were going to be dire especially with a biological meta-crisis.

Alice comes to her senses a few seconds to late grabbing her sisters hand, "Donna don't!"

She tried pulling her away with all the strength she could muster, when the excess energy got too much with Ariana's added power it exploded. Sending the young woman flying backwards, colliding hard in to the curved wall.

Donna gasped as she sat up, her gaze going instantly to Alice. She was slumped against the wall, unconscious. She hurried to get up nearly stumbling as she made her way over to her sister, "Ally?" she gently shakes her, but nothing, "Alice, wake up!"

In desperation Donna went to check her sisters neck for a pulse, but she felt nothing against her fingers only Alice's now cold skin, "Ally...no...no," she breathed, now cradling her sister close sobbing into her hair.

Unknowing to her, that the metacrisis created from the Doctor's old hand, was watching the grieving woman.

"I'm so sorry, Donna," he quietly offered his condolences.

"It's you..." Donna looked up at him her voice thick with tears. Her surprise masked with sorrow for losing her baby sister. The older redhead turned her gaze back to Alice, brushing her fiery locks away from her face, letting another sob escape. The metacrisis Doctor heaved himself up, pressed some buttons making the TARDIS disappear from the Crucible and reappear in space. Before going in search of clothes.

 **-Doctor Who-**

Meanwhile...white greeted Alice's eyes. That's all she could see what was surrounding her is white.

"Hello!" She called, her voice echoing throughout the vastness before her, "Hello! Donna! Doctor!"

But nothing responded to her.

"Anyone here?" Alice asked loudly, "Where the hell am I?" still getting nothing the young redhead was starting to get frustrated, "Where's my sister? Is she alright?"

But still nothing.

She wrapped her arms around herself and started walking, glancing around at the surroundings, well lack of...fearfully. As she continued, she hummed a tune to herself that Donna used to sing to her when she got scared. Using it as a distraction from the deafening silence around her. Just as when she spoke, it echoed around her so she just stopped.

Suddenly Alice heard a faint melody playing from behind her, making her stop walking. Slowly turning around, "Who are you?" she took a wary step back from the dark skinned woman.

"You know who I am Alice," the woman informed knowingly, with a slight American twang her voice now sounding familiar to her.

"Ariana, is that really you?" the young Noble now stepped forward, "Am I dreaming right now?"

"Yes I am," Ariana confirmed with a nod and fond smile that soon faded, "But sadly no this isn't a dream and I'm sorry."

"What do you mean sorry?" Alice asked with uncertainty as she frowned.

"Honey...you're dead," she broke to her tears now in her eyes.

"No," the young Noble shook her head in denial, "I can't be dead...I only just hit my head a little hard that's all. I'm just unconscious and my mind is playing tricks on me," she now adamantly put, not wanting to believe Ariana.

"I'm sorry Alice...but you are dead," the Time Lord said.

Turning away, with a hand on her stomach, sank to the floor, "I'm dead," she repeats, tearing up. Ari sits beside her, "What about my sister? Tell me is she..."

"Donna is fine," Ariana cuts in, "She's alive and safe."

"Thank God," Alice sighed with relief, looking to the Time Lord, "So what happens now? Do I walk through a bright light or something," she asked, "Or is this my final destination?"

"No, not yet anyway," she tells the young woman, "Your far from done yet."

The redhead frowned at her, "What do you mean?"

"Your story isn't over for you just yet Alice," the Time Lord elaborates, "Neither is mine."

"I don't understand," the redhead looked at her with confusion.

Ariana reached out her hand and placed it on her cheek, "Because a certain Doctor needs us now more than ever. We're both special to him Alice and we can't let him go on alone."

"What do we have to do?" she asked willingly.

"Alice do you trust me?" Ariana questioned.

"Of course," she replied instantly, "How do we get back?"

"We need to become one," Ari said touching the locket, "But you have to understand something first..." leaning forward she whispered into the young woman's ear.

Alice nodded, "I understand," said sadly as she now touched the locket, just as Ariana moved back nodding her head.

She flipped the latch on the locket open as the Time Lord started to glow in a orange light. The other woman now held out her hands waiting for Alice to take them. The young Noble took her hands the light flowing up her arms, taking over her body...

 **-Doctor Who-**

"9...8...7...6..."

Ariana sat up with a gasp after the golden light faded, the others in the Crucible none the wiser hadn't see the light flashing out from the TARDIS windows. She had managed to take over Alice's body and regenerate with using the energy to heal and change her insides. But managed to keep the outside intact, only the question remained: was how long could she hold onto it for?

"Ok hand's haven't hand those in awhile," she looked at them before pulling herself up with the console for support. Her legs wobbled slightly as she stared at the open TARDIS doors ahead of her, "No time like the present for a test run," treading carefully towards the doorway.

"5...4...3...2...1..."

"Don't think you were going to start the party without me," she called catching the whole rooms attention.

Everyone looked over to see _Alice_ leaning against the door frame of the TARDIS, her eyes giving a brief flicker of orange regeneration energy. The Doctor stared in disbelief not believing what he was seeing Donna and the New Doctor had told him she was dead! Yet...there she stood.

"Al..." the Time Lord breathed, eyes wide with relief before stopping himself realising it wasn't the young Noble any more, "Ari."

But she didn't seemed concerned that this shocked him and simply smiled at him as she stepped out of the TARDIS, "Hello, Doctor."

Suddenly the bomb powered down, along with the screen going completely dead. Just when an alarm starts to go off. Everyone in the room looked around with utter confusion.

"Oh... closing all Z-Neutrino relay loops using an internalised synchronous back-feed reversal loop!" she grinned at them with a confidence the Doctor had never seen in her before as she flicked a switch at the controls, "That button there!"

"System in shutdown!" a Dalek reported.

"Detonation negative!" the second added.

"Explain!" the Supreme Dalek demanded, "Explain! EXPLAIN!"

The Doctor watched on, with bemusement, as Ariana came over helping Donna work on shutting down the rest of the Crucible, "Donna, you can't even change a plug!"

"Do you wanna bet, Time Boy?" she grinned at him, feeling more and more confident Ari giving her some instruction but it looked to her like she didn't need to give her much guidance.

"You will suffer for this," Davros threatened her.

"Who me?" she tilts her head to the side before she gave the Ariana a glance who flicked a switch, sending an electric current up his arm.

"Bioelectric dampening field with a retrogressive arc inversion," the Time Lady laughed, "Didn't your mother tell you it's bad to play with weapons," she now said mockingly with a grin before wincing in pain slightly.

"Exterminate them!"

"Exterminate!" the Daleks called, "Exterminate!"

The Time Lord's breath hitched as he fearfully watch the Daleks approach on Ariana and Donna, but they didn't seem to be fazed by it, just as the female Time Lord pushed a few more buttons and the Noble flicked a switch...

He saw his mate grimace with pain, "Ari, listen to me please," his hands pressed against his holding cell, understanding what was happening, "Alice's body is already dead, you need to let it go! You need to properly regenerate!"

With Alice's body already being dead, it just wasn't strong enough to hold the DNA of a Time Lord. If she held the regeneration off too long...would it kill Ariana? With her being in this weak state. Would it burn both hearts out before it was too late...and not regenerate like he fears?

Ariana closed her eyes briefly, lightly shaking her head, the group watched as her hands glow with wisps of orange regeneration energy, "No, I can't not yet," she said reassuringly, eyes opening, the brief glimmer of orange in her warm brown eyes, "Don't argue with me on this right now Doctor we have a whole universe to save," she now offered seriously.

They all now noticed the Daleks were starting to power down, their blaster-guns twitch uncontrollably, "Weapons non-functional!"

"What?" Donna said again with a smirk, "Macrotransmission of a K-filter wavelength blocking Dalek weaponry in a self-replicating energy blindfold matrix?"

To Ariana she sounded so much like the Doctor that it was just plain creepy

"How did you work that out?" he looked at her rather impressed, "You..."

"Time Lord," the New Doctor said cutting in, "Part Time Lord."

"Part Human!" Donna grinned, "Oh, yes! There was a bit of a biological meta-crisis. Half Doctor... half Donna!"

"The Doctor-Donna..." the Time Lord said in realisation, "Just like the Ood said, remember? They saw it coming! The Doctor-Donna."

"Donna," Ariana glanced at the Noble, "Get those holding cells deactivated."

She nodded and pushed some buttons, "Holding cells deactivated," she replied back to the female Time Lord as she flipped some switches, lights turning off surrounding the Doctors and Rose.

"And seal the Vault," Ariana added, just as the locks click. She suddlenly doubled over in pain groaning and looked at her hands as they glowed a little brighter with regeneration energy.

Only the Doctor held back to stare at the female Time Lord and her glowing hands, "Ari are you...?"

"I only can hold it off for another couple of minutes at most, so we need to hurry up," she looked at him, to see a mixture of sadness and joy in his eyes.

Yes...Alice was gone and he would mourn her in his own time. But at the same time he would gain a part of home he once lost. He took hold of her face cupping it and giving her a long and passionate kiss. It was his last way of truly saying goodbye to the young woman even though she wasn't their in spirit any more.

"Ari..."

"Doctor," she pressed her forehead against his, smiling at him in a way Alice used to despite feeling weak she showed strength as she neared death, "Everything'll be fine."

"You heard her mister!" Donna called, knowing Ariana was trying to reassure him that all wasn't lost and that they would be safe once she regenerated. Because holding it off for any longer wouldn't be good at all, "Now if you don''t mind I could use some help over here, so don't just stand there, you skinny boys in suits - get to work!" Donna rolled her eyes at both Doctors as they stared. Snapping out of their trace they come to aid Donna at the control panel.

Both Doctors exchanged looks before the New Doctor dashed over to Donna.

"Now, go you've got this," she gives his hands a squeeze. He beamed at her, kissed her on the cheek quickly before rushing off to help the others. The sooner this was done with the sooner he could be with her when she changed.

Ari watched him go, sadness enveloping her thoughts. Of course she felt Alice die, her death was quick and painless. But that was something she would never tell the Doctor, ever, it would kill him if he knew how she had died. But allowing to let him see this face one last time was a gift she was giving to him before she changed. When this face was gone, she hopes he will be there for the next.

"Stop them!" Davros shouted, "Get them away from the controls!"

"And... spin," Ari muttered weakly, coming over flip a switch, as the Daleks now span in circles, much to the amusement of the others there in the room.

"Help me!" the Daleks cried, "Help me!"

"And... the other way!" Donna gave a laugh, as she flicked another switch and turned a dial. Just as the Daleks spin in the other direction, with their upper and lower body facing different ways.

"What did you do?" The New Doctor asked.

"Trip-stitch circuit-breaker in the psycho-kinetic threshold manipulator," Donna answered.

"But that's brilliant!"

"Why did we never think of that?" the Time Lord asked the New Doctor.

"Because you two... were just Time Lords!" Donna cut in, "You dumbos. Lacking that little bit of Human, that gut instinct that goes hand-in-hand with planet Earth. I could think of ideas that you two couldn't dream of in a million years! Ah, the universe has been waiting for me! Now... let's send that trip-stitch all over the ship. Did I ever tell you..." she gestured to herself, "Best temp in Chiswick?" wiggles her fingers in a typing motion to the Time Lady, "A hundred words per minute!"

"System malfunction..." a Dalek called as it continued spinning.

"Motor causing interference..." another reports.

"What is happening? Explain!"

"Come on then," Ari steps away from the Doctor to get over to the other set of keyboards, "We've got twenty-seven planets to send home. Activate magnetron."

"Stop it at once!" Davros ordered.

The Daleks still spun around screeching as Jack quickly darted inside the TARDIS to grab the guns, carried them back out to face the Daleks, "Mickey!" he called throwing it to him.

"You will desist!"

Mickey gets in front of him, aiming the gun in his face, "Just stay where you are, Mister."

"Out of the way!" Jack kicks a Dalek, making it spin off down a corridor to be pushed on by Rose and Sarah Jane.

"Ready?" Donna asks the Doctors, "And reverse!"

They all hit in a few coordinates and commands. Soon the planets all began disappearing in flashes of light, one by one.

"Off you go, Clom," the Doctor called with a smile.

"Back home, Adipose Three!" the New Doctor added.

"Shallacatop!" Donna flicks a switch, "Pyrovillia! The Lost Moon of Poosh. Topping. Ha!"

"We need more power..." the Doctor remarks moving to sonic a bit of wiring.

"Is anyone gonna tell us what's going on?" Rose asked not quite understanding.

Donna gestured to the Time Lord, "He poured all his regeneration energy into his spare hand, I touched the hand..." she now gestured to the New Doctor, "...he grew out of that, but that fed back into me. But, it just stayed dormant in my head 'til the synapses got that little extra spark, kicking them into life. Thank you, Davros! Part Human... part Time Lord. And I got the best bit of the Doctor," the New Doctor raises his eyebrows at this, "I got his mind."

"So there's three of you?" Sarah Jane asked glancing between the three.

"Three Doctors?" Rose repeated her mouth hanging open.

"And another Time Lord excuse me," Ariana cut in tetchily, gesturing to herself.

"I can't tell you what I'm thinking right now," Jack remarked rather distracted by his thoughts.

"Good, let's just keep that to yourself shall we Jack ," Ariana called over.

"You're so unique that the timelines were converging on you," the Doctor explained turning to Donna, "Human Being with a Time Lord brain."

"But you promised me, Dalek Caan," Davros lamented, turning to point with an accusing finger, "Why did you not forsee this?"

The insane Dalek just giggled madly.

"Oh, I think he did," the Time Lord offered knowingly, "Something's been manipulating the timelines for ages... getting Donna Noble to the right place at the right time."

"This would always have happened," the creature stated, "I only helped, Doctor."

"You... betrayed the Daleks?" Davros accused with a gasp.

"I SAW the Daleks. What we have done throughout time and space. I saw the truth of us, Creator, and I decreed 'no more'."

The Supreme Dalek descends into the vault, "Davros, you have betrayed us."

"It was Dalek Caan!" he pointed

"The Vault will be purged! You will all be exterminated!

Davros growled firing a bolt at Caan only for it to be deflected away, hitting the magnetron instead.

"Like I was saying, feel this!" Jack fired his gun at the Supreme Dalek, splitting him in half.

"Oh, we've lost the magnatron!" the Doctor's eyes widened as he examined the central column, "And there's only one planet left, oh..." he laughed, "Guess which one. Look, we can use the TARDIS and..."

"Doctor," Ariana called weakly watching her suddenly hunch over in pain, the orange regeneration energy was growing brighter, she had tried to hold it back for as long as she could. He nodded understanding it was nearly time, coming to her side and taking her inside the TARDIS where it would be safe to regenerate. Leading her to the console, rushing about madly, pressing this and that, giving the occasional glance of concern at her now and again. Trying just that bit longer to hold on.


	35. Journey's End Final Part

**Speech key:**

 _'Telepathic communication'_

"Holding Earth stability..." the New Doctor said flicking some switches, "Maintaining atmospheric shell."

"The prophecy must complete," Caan speaks up.

"Don't listen to him," Davros shouted.

"I have seen the end of everything Dalek, and you must make it happen, Doctor."

"He's right," the New Doctor realised agreeing with the statement, "Because with or without a Reality Bomb, this Dalek Empire's big enough to slaughter the cosmos. They've got to be stopped!"

"Just...just wait for the Doctor," Donna reasoned with him hurriedly, the other humans around them shifting uneasily

The New Doctor countered, his eyes hard as steel, "I am the Doctor," before continuing back to work.

Ariana's eyes snapped back open, "Doctor!" she moaned in pain as he ran to her side, "No, not you the other one!"

The new Doctor's eyes widened as he ran to the doors.

"Maximising Dalekanium power feeds," he now said, "Blasting them BACK!"

Hitting the button all the Daleks exploded with a scream. Everyone in the Vault is sent flying from the force of the explosions, "What've you done?!"

"Fulfilling the prophecy," the New Doctor stated.

"Do you know what you've done?" the Time Lord glared at him.

"Doctor!" Ariana called with a strained voice from inside the TARDIS.

Looking over his shoulder he sees the orange light shining brighter and he knew that it only meant one thing, "Now, get in the TARDIS!" he looks to the others, "Everyone! All of you inside, run! In, in, in, in, in!"

They all run into the TARDIS, as the New Doctor now ushered them in quickly, "Sarah Jane! Rose! Jackie! Jack! Mickey!"

The Doctor squints through the fire as he urgently made a last minute decision, "Davros?" he held his hand out, "Come with me! I promise I can save you!"

"Never forget, Doctor, YOU did this! I name YOU, forever, YOU are the Destroyer of Worlds!" Davros shouted just he slammed the TARDIS doors shut.

Everyone suddenly gets startled by the bright light as Ariana threw her head back and arms out as the energy converged around her body, it almost blinded everyone in the room. The Doctor rushed over past his friends to the front, just as the energy faded Ariana fell out of the regeneration.

The Doctor just managed to catch her by the shoulders in time before she fell, straightening her up, "You ok?" he asked, hand reaching out to brushing her cheek, turning her head to meet his, "Ari?"

She blinked a few times adjusting her eyes before meeting her mates, he noticed her hair was still the same length as Alice's had been and was now black, her eyes were a deep inviting chocolate brown. Her russet coloured skin was beautiful to him and it brought out her eyes. Opening her mouth about to speak a wisp of regeneration energy left. She laughs and smiles at him, "Hello you," her accent now had become an soft American twang.

"Hello," he grinned back and wasted no time pulling her into an embrace, which she gratefully accepted as he clung on tightly to her, "I've missed you so much Ari you have no idea."

She returned it without hesitation, "I've missed you too Doc."

"Mind you that accent will take getting used to," he muttered into her neck as he continued to hold her.

"Do you think it suits me?" she asked rather uncertain.

"Yes it sounds perfect," he pulled away to look at her again, "But all that matters right here, right now is that you're alive," he affectionately kisses her forehead. The Doctor was just happy, she was wonderful, beautiful and strong again. Just then Rose looked away.

"I knew that we find our way back to each other someday," she spoke softly to him pressing their foreheads together.

Sarah Jane smiled fondly at the Doctor happy he has found another like his own again wanting to give the Time Lords all the time in world to reconnect...but there were more pressing matters at hand, "Speaking of finding our way back..." she called hating that she had to interrupt them, "The Earth? It's stuck in the wrong part of space!"

"We're on it," The TARDIS gives a slight jolt. The Doctor pulls out of their embrace, took Ariana's hand pulling her over to the console, "And! Off we go!" he looked at her, still finding it hard to believe she was standing there before him as she pulled a lever.

"Bet that brings back memories for you?" the Doctor asked seeing how happy she looked to be touching the a TARDIS console in a long time.

"It felt so good to do that again you have no idea," she said shuddering with excitement.

"Torchwood Hub, this is the Doctor," he grinned. Both the Time Lords went to the monitor, Donna hugging Ariana without warning which was rather awkward but she returned it anyway, "Are you receiving me?"

"Loud and clear," a young dark haired woman appears on the screen, "Is Jack there?"

"Can't get rid of him," he glanced over to Jack and pointed back to her, "Jack, what's her name?"

"Gwen Cooper," Jack replied to him.

"Tell me, Gwen Cooper, are you from an old Cardiff family?"

"Yes..." she returned slowly, "All the way back to the 1800s."

"Mm, thought so!" he nodded

"Spatial genetic multiplicity..." Ariana came over to give him a hand, remembering a brief surface memory of him telling Alice about meeting Charles Dickens. Donna watched with a curious smile.

"Yeah, yeah! It's a funny old world!" the Doctor laughed, turning his attention back to the monitor, "Now, Torchwood, I want you to open up that Rift Manipulator, send all the power to us."

"Doing it now, sir," the young man with Gwen called.

"What's that for?" Martha asked curiously.

"It's a towrope," he replied to her, "Now then, Sarah, what was your son's name?"

"Luke, he's called Luke," she grinned joyously, "And the computer's called Mr Smith."

Ariana nodded typing something in, "Calling Luke and Mr Smith!"

"Come on, Luke, shake a leg!" the Doctor called.

"Is Mum there?" the young boy asked happily.

"Oh, she's fine and dandy..."

"Yes!" Sarah laughed with relief at hearing his voice, "Yes!"

"Mr Smith, I want you to harness the Rift power and loop it round the TARDIS, you got that?" the Healer asked him.

"I regret I will need remote access to TARDIS basecode numerals," Mr. Smith stated.

"Oh, blimey," the Doctor remarked, running a hand through his hair, "That's gonna take a while."

"No, no, no," Sarah Jane darts around to the Time Lords at the monitor, "Let me! K-9, out you come!"

"Affirmative, Mistress!" the robot dog rolled onto the screen.

"Oh, good dog!" the Doctor laughed with delight, "K-9, give Mr Smith the basecode!"

"Master. TARDIS basecode now being transferred. The process is simple."

Ariana scoffed, "Makes sense why that your dogs ego would be big as yours."

"Now then, you lot..." he rolled his eyes before turning to everyone. As he guided Sarah Jane back to the place she had been standing, "Sarah, hold that. And Mickey, you hold that. Because, you know why this TARDIS is always rattling about the place?" he goes past Rose.

"That's not a valid excuse for the horrible driving," Ariana supplied knowingly.

"Really you don't say," he replied sarcastically to his mate, still putting people into position, "It was designed to have six pilots and I have to do it single handed..." Ari cleared her throat, "Well I'll have, Ari to help me out now anyway," he grinned at her.

She nudged Martha to the side to help her, "Martha, keep that level. But not anymore! Jack, there you go, steady that."

"Now we can fly this thing..."he reached Jackie and hesitated, "No, Jackie. No, no. Not you," he patted her shoulder, "Don't touch anything, just... stand back..." he spun around to look at the console, "Like it's meant to be flown! We've got the Torchwood Rift looped around the TARDIS by Mr Smith. We're gonna fly planet Earth back home," he went to take his place at the console, Ariana across from him, "Right, then! Off we go!"

The Doctor pulled a lever and they were off, flying smoothly as the TARDIS tugged the Earth along. As the team worked flawlessly, Rose looked on from the side, leaning against the railing, her mood solemn, the Doctor having obviously lost his trust in her.

Donna gives a smile of appreciation to Jack as she and the New Doctor walked around the console, observing, "That's really good, Jack. I think you're the best."

Jackie giggled, coming to stand by her daughter as the New Doctor and Donna stood the opposite side, leaning against a support, chuckling.

And soon, the Earth was back in its rightful place. As they all whooped and cheered with joy, Ariana watching on with a small smile gracing her lips as everyone hugged

 **-Doctor Who-**

The TARDIS materialised on Bannerman Road that was rather nice looking suburban street, as the Doctor, Ariana, and Sarah Jane emerged from the ship, taking a peak around.

"You know..." Sarah Jane eyed him as he held Ariana's hand refusing to never let go of it again, "You act like such a lonely man. But look at you! You've got the biggest family on Earth! And..." she smirked, teasing him.

"Let's just say girlfriend shall we," the Doctor grinned at the woman beside him.

Sarah laughed pulling him into a fierce hug, "Gotta go!" she pulls away to quickly hug Ariana, "He's only fourteen! It's a long story. And thank you!" they smiled warmly as she ran off down the road, waving back to them.

 **-Doctor Who-**

The Doctor just stood outside the TARDIS in Cardiff with Ariana, disabling Jack's manipulator with his sonic, "I TOLD you, no teleport. And Martha, get rid of that Osterhagen thing, eh? Save the world one more time."

Martha confirmed with a smile, "Consider it done," she nodded startling Ariana with a hug, which she gladly returned, while Jack saluted them both.

Both the Time Lords turn and walk away, the Doctor smiling after them just as Mickey stepped out of the TARDIS and made to follow after them.

"Oi! Where are you going?" the Doctor called after him.

"Well, I'm not stupid," the man remarked back to him, "I can work out what happens next. And hey, I had a good time in that parallel world but my Gran passed away. Nice and peaceful. Spent her last years living in a mansion. There's nothing there for me, now. Certainly not Rose."

"What will you do?"

"Anything! Brand new life. Just you watch," they both knock fists, "See you, boss, nice to have met you Ariana," he winked at the Healer, "Hey, you two!" Mickey turned and chased after them.

The Doctor shook his head and made there way back inside the TARDIS, walking to the console. Ariana went to the monitor to check progress of the holes the TARDIS was closing up that Rose had made with her device. He briefly looked to her as she returned a nod, "About five minutes left to go," she remarked as the screen blurred, rubbing her temples just as her head started to throb.

The Doctor frowned with concern, seeing this and opened his mouth, "It's ok Ariana, I've got this," the other Doctor cut in before him, seeing he was about to speak.

He glanced at the New Doctor as he returned a subtle nod in the direction of Rose who was leaning against a Y-beam, arms crossed over her chest, with a look that said she wanted to have a word alone with him. He returned a nod to the New Doctor.

"Come on Ari," the New Doctor insisted with a nod, "Let's get you checked over."

"Honestly I'm fine," she offered, but not convincingly enough, "And don't call me 'Ari' he only gets to call me that not you," she bit back at the New Doctor who winced.

"Sorry," he apologised.

"Oi madam," Donna turned to her pointing a threatening finger at her, "Get moving, now!" now gesturing to the gantry, "Medical Bay! Chop-Chop!"

Ariana rolled her eyes and shook her head, but went up the stairs anyway, the New Doctor and Donna not far behind her.

"Hey!" Jackie called, following the trio, "I want to have a look!" she hadn't really seen much of the TARDIS when she had last been inside it.

The Doctor watched them go up, waiting until the door closed before returning his attention to the controls. He could feel Rose's eyes boring into him now it was just them, just waiting for him to say something but he couldn't bring himself to.

She pushed off the Y-beam and approached him, feeling her near he walked around to another part of the console playing it off as if he was adjusting something. But she just follwed, "Are going to continue to ignore me or are we going to talk?"

"What else is there I need to say Rose?" he turned to her with a hard gaze.

"You don't have to say anything, I just need you to hear me out," she tells him, the Time Lord crossed his arms, waiting with baited breath, "I'm sorry ok. All of this, it's my fault, I know, this is my fault for the Daleks getting through the walls of the Universe as they collapsed, I got that. But Doctor," she shakes her head, "I wanted to get back to you. I've...missed you so much."

All he could do was stare back at her in silence.

Rose blinks, tears coming to her eyes, voice cracking as she asked, "Did...did you miss me at all?"

The Doctor sighed deeply, turning away to face the console, bracing his hands on it, "Yes, Rose of course I missed you."

With how angry he was at her for what she did, he was never good when it came to others crying.

"Well clearly not enough, huh?" he could sense all that emotion in Rose right now, the hurt and betrayal...that was shifting into anger, "How long did it take before you moved onto her?"

Having enough he turned to meet her, "Don't start Rose."

"No," she glared back, hands on hips, "I have a right to know! I spent all those years with you, and you didn't..."

"Of course I didn't!" he shouted with frustration, "Rose, remember what I told you once, things are different with humans that..."

"That we wither and die," she abruptly cut in, "Yeah, I know that, heard all that before," Rose shook her head, "That humans die and you change. But she did, didn't she? She regenerated before everyone! Like you've said, your different. What if that new version of her dosen't even love..."

"Don't," the Doctor challenged with a glare, his tone harsh just as he started to tremble with rage he could barley contain.

"She's a stranger you barley know her! She can't love y..."

"Rose!" his breathing had now become heavy, finally having enough of her tirade against Ariana, "Don't you dare finish that sentence Rose Tyler or I will through you out right of those doors."

Rose swallowed harshly, she had never heard him speak with such darkness in the Doctor's voice before, or see a glint of it in his eyes. She stepped hesitantly away, knowing she has just crossed that she can't take back. He's not just angry with her, not fuming, he was bloody furious...

"You don't understand what she's just been through or anything else that she's been through," he went on, clenching his fists, trying to keep his anger under control, "How far she's come. You don't know what she's feeling, hearing, you just have no idea about anything..."

"What I know is you could never love someone like her," she muttered quietly.

"You know that do you?" hardening his gaze, "I've loved her long before the name Tyler existed and I'll will love her long after you have died and after your family line ends. Also I didn't 'move on' to it just happened," he finished off, "I Linked to her. In human terms, she's my girlfriend."

But even before Rose can form any words from her shock, they hear Ariana's voice filter out from behind the door to the gantry, "The TARDIS should be good and ready for one final trip," she said, a moment before the door opened, "Our last destination, Dårlig Ulv Stranden."

The Doctor put on a false grin, not willing for the others joining them again to see his rampant emotions, to know what had just gone on between him and Rose just now. He turned pulling a lever, "Better known as..."

 **-Doctor Who-**

The TARDIS materialised on the sands of Bad Wolf Bay, the sun above was shining proudly in the sky on a day like any other. Jackie stepped out first, followed by the New Doctor and Rose.

"Ugh, fat lot of good this is!" Jackie comments crinkling her nose, "Back of beyond, bloody Norway! I'm gonna have to phone your father. He's on the nursery run," Rose looks around confused as her mother turned to the New Doctor, "I was pregnant, do you remember? Had a baby boy!"

"Ah, brilliant!" The Doctor, Donna and Ariana now stepped out of the TARDIS, "What did you call him?"

"Doctor."

"...really?"

"No, you plum. He's called Tony!"

"Hold on," Rose interrupted, turning to the trio standing by the TARDIS, "This is the parallel universe, right?"

"You're back home," the Doctor nodded.

"And the walls of the world are closing again..."Donna explained, "Now that the Reality Bomb never happened. It's dimension retro-closure," she shared a smile with the New Doctor, "See, I really get that stuff now."

Ariana briefly glanced at her knowing why she knew that because of the metacrisis, something she tried to stop but failed to. Now Donna was soon going to pay the price.

"No," the young woman shook her head, on the verge of tears, "But I spent all that time trying to find you."

"And released Daleks in the process," Ariana reminds her firmly.

"I'm not going back now!"

"You've got to," he agreed with his mate, "Because we saved the universe, but at a cost. And the cost is him," he nods at the New Doctor, "He destroyed the Daleks. He committed genocide. He's too dangerous to be left on his own."

"You made me!" the New Doctor exclaimed with anger.

"Exactly, you were born in battle, full of blood and anger and revenge," the Doctor continued to force himself to look Rose in the eye, "Remind you of someone?"

Rose knows who he means, but she won't say it.

"That's me. When we first met. And you did make me better," he conceded, "And now you can do the same for him."

"But he's not you," Rose said, with tears of frustration.

"He needs you," the Doctor replied as he shook his head, "That was very me."

Rose flinched at the past tense.

"But it's better than that, though," Donna added, "Don't you see what he's trying to give you?" she looked to the New Doctor, "Tell her, go on."

"I look like him and I think like him..." Rose turned to the New Doctor, "Same memories, same thoughts, same everything. Except, I've only got one heart."

"Which means?" she asked, trying not to get her hopes up.

"He's part human," Ariana answered, "Specifically the ageing part."

"I'll grow old and never regenerate," the New Doctor nods, "I've only got one life... Rose Tyler. I could spend it with you. If you want."

"You'll grow...grow old at the same time as me?"

"Together."

Rose puts a hand to his chest, feeling his one heart beating.

The TARDIS made a grinding noise from behind them, drawing everyone's attention, "We've got to go," the Doctor announced, "This reality's sealing itself off. Forever."

"But it's still not right!" Rose shouted as they turned to leave, they turned back, she had to give it one last shot and wasn't giving up easily, "Because... the Doctor's... still you."

"And I'm him," he nodded at the New Doctor.

"All right," she nodded her head, knowing there was one last thing she could try to get him back, her Doctor, "Both of you, answer me this. When I last stood on this beach on the worst day of my life... what was the last thing you said to me?" she looked at the Doctor, "Go on, say it."

"It dosen't matter anymore," he told her resolutely, "I'm sorry Rose."

Rose blinked, as her heart shattered watching as he pulled Ariana to him, wrapping an protective arm around her waist.

She really has lost him.

"My end was this..." the New Doctor called gently, reaching for her to whisper in her ear. Rose pulled away from him, gazed into his eyes a few seconds before tugging him by the lapels of his blue suit jacket, kissing him firmly, being able to pretend, that just for a moment, it was the Doctor.

The Doctor nodded guiding Ari with his hand on the small of her back as Donna followed with them towards the TARDIS.

Ari paused in the doorway as the Doctor steps past her to the console, glancing at Rose and the New Doctor. She prays that Rose will be happy and remain so for the rest of her days in this other world.

 **-Doctor Who-**

Ariana stood to one side of the console, setting up some of the controls while briefly looking over at Donna, who was making adjustments to the monitor on the other side, as the Doctor leaned against a support watching them.

"I thought we could try the planet Felspoon... just 'cos," Donna shrugged, "What a good name, 'Felspoon'. Apparently it's got mountains that sway in the breeze. Mountains that move. Can you imagine?"

"And how do you know that?" the Doctor asked his voice quite and solemn.

"Because it's in your head! And if it's in your head, it's in mine."

"Wow, must be crowded in there," Ariana offered with fake enthusiasm, turning to lean against the console, throwing her mate a look of concern.

 _'We need to do something and quickly. Because she's going to burn and I don't want that guilt on my shoulders.'_

' _I know I'm trying think of something.'_

"Brilliant!" Donna grinned, moving around the console with a skip in her step, "Fantastic! Molto bene! Great bit of universe packed into my brain. You know you could fix that chameleon circuit if you just try and hotbind in the fragment links and superseding the binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary..." she gasped nearly falling over, closing her eyes wincing both, not seeing the Time Lords share a cautious look, "I'm fine! Nah, never-mind Felspoon. You know who I'd like to meet? Charlie Chaplin. I've heard he's great, Charlie Chaplin. Shall we do that? Shall we go and see Charlie Chaplin?" she picked up the telephone, speaking into it, "Shall we? Charlie Chaplin? Charlie Chester, Charlie Brown. No, he's fiction, friction, fiction, fixen, mixen, rixten, brixton..." she doubled over in pain again, hands going to her temples, "Oh, my God."

 _'Ari I know what needs to be done.'_

 _'Kas, are you sure you want to do this?'_

 _'I have to, if it means her forgetting everything, even Alice then yes it's going to have be.'_

"Donna," Ariana slowly made her way over to Donna's side, placing a delicate hand on her shoulder, feeling guilty of what she was about to do, "You know what's happening, right?"

Donna hesitated, but nodded, "Yeah."

"There's never been a Human-Time Lord metacrisis before now," the Doctor stated as he came to stand beside Ariana.

"And you know why," the other Time Lord added.

"Because there can't be," Donna's voice broke tears filling her eyes. She moved away Ari's hand slipping off her shoulder as she turned away, moving back over to the controls, pushing a button here or there, "I want to stay."

"Look at us," the Doctor called to her, but she refused to look at them both and it was breaking the female Time Lords hearts as a tear travelled down her cheek, "Donna, look at us."

She swallowed now turning to look at them, with a defiant stance, trying to be strong even if she was shaking, "I was gonna be with you... forever."

"We know," the Doctor nodded, whispering gently.

"The rest of my life... travelling... in the TARDIS. The Doctor-Donna," she sniffs, "Ariana too," she tried to joke with them, but sees them both staring back at her solemnly, having heard herself speak she realised what was about to happen, "

No. Oh, my God..." she backed away from him, tears threatening to spill from her eyes as he reached outside towards her taking her by the shoulders "I can't go back. Don't make me go back. Doctor... please. Please, don't make me go back."

"Stop," Ariana stepped beside her, "Don't do it."

"Ari..." he looked at her, taken aback that she'd stopped him, knowing fully well what it meant for Donna. She was the one that told him they needed to do something about this but here she was stopping him.

"Let..." she swallowed trying to speak, feeling it would only be more right and merciful that she done it instead, "Let me do it."

 _'Ari,'_ the Doctor's frowned, seeing the sadness in her eyes, tears in them, _'You don't have to do this then let me...'_

 _'No, I want to do this I owe her so much,'_ he took her hand giving it a brief understanding squeeze. He knew what she meant, Ariana had felt the love of family again from one she had lost long ago. What it had been like to have a sibling again and she couldn't be more grateful. To her, Donna would always be her sister.

Letting go of her hand he lets Ariana take his place, looking at sadness upon Donna's face, "I'm so sorry Donna...I really am," she whispered to her, as not only do her tears spill over but Donna's too, "Goodbye, thank you for everything."

Donna shook her head just as the Time Lord placed her fingertips at Donna's temples, closing her eyes to concentrate, "No," Donna desperately pleaded, "No, please! Please! No, NO!"

The Doctor watched his mate as she winced, knowing she was getting rid of every single moment they have endured together rewinding it backwards across the woman's mind, erasing...

"No!"

Donna suddenly pitched forward, unconscious as Ari struggled holding her up, the Doctor coming over to help sustain her, they gazed at each other for a moment before they lifted her over and laid her onto the seat, going to the controls to get her back home.

 **-Doctor Who-**

Ariana charged out into the rain and hammered on the Nobles front door, as the Doctor followed holding Donna in his arms, "Oh, that must be them!" She heard Wilf call from inside the house, bracing herself for him to open the door, "Donna? Alice?" he laughed joyfully, only to stop to see a dark-skinned woman standing there, the Doctor and an unconscious Donna almost giving him a heart attack.

"Help us," the Doctor whispered urgently.

"Donna? Where's Alice?" Wilf reached out to help, as he wondering why his youngest granddaughter wasn't there.

"Let's get inside and I'll explain."

 **-Doctor Who-**

As Donna slept peacefully in her bedroom the Time Lords sat in the Nobles sitting room, explaining everything. Sure it was hard for them to get their heads around the idea that Alice was no longer with them and they would let them grieve for her in peace once they had gone. Now there was also the matter of Donna to attend to.

"She took my mind into her own head," the Doctor explained, as he and Ariana sat on the sofa across from the Nobles, holding the other Time Lords hand trying to keep her at ease, "But that's a Time Lord consciousness. All that knowledge - it was killing her."

"But she'll get better, now?" Wilf frowned with some concern.

"No she won't," Ari replied, "In order to save her... I had to wipe her mind, completely. Every trace of us, Alice or the TARDIS... everything we did together, anywhere we went... had to go."

"All those wonderful things she did..."

"I know," the Doctor whispered nodding his head, "But that version of Donna is dead," he now leaned forward, "Because if she remembers, just for a second, she'll burn up. You can never tell her," thunder rumbled from outside, "You can't mention us, or any of it... for the rest of her life."

"But the whole world's talking about it," Sylvia shook her head, "We travelled across space!"

"It'll just be a story. One of those Donna Noble stories, where she missed it all again," the Doctor shrugged, voice cracking slightly as Ariana squeezed his hand.

"But she was better with you," Wilf cried.

"Don't say that..." Sylvia snapped at her father.

"No, she was!"

"We just want you to know that there are worlds out there, safe in the sky, because of her," Ariana told them, "That there are people living in the light, singing songs of Donna Noble, a thousand million light-years away... they will never forget her. While she can never remember."

"And for one moment..." the Doctor added, tears now in his eyes, "One shining moment... she was the most important woman in the whole wide universe."

"She still is," Sylvia remarked shortly, "She's my daughter."

"Then maybe you should tell her that once in a while," Ariana snapped abruptly, everything now getting too much for her.

Only for the room to now go silent as they heard footsteps on the stairs. As Donna burst into holding her phone seething, "I was asleep, ON my bed, IN my clothes, like a flippin' kid! What did you let me do that for?!" she glanced briefly to the pair on the couch, "Don't mind me. Donna."

"John Smith," the Doctor stood and they shook hands.

"Abbie..." Ari began, standing as she bit her tongue, knowing well that saying Noble wasn't an option, so she swallowed, "Smith."

The Doctor gave her a surprised look as she shook Donna's hand.

"They were just leaving," Sylvia told her daughter, sending the Time Lords a harsh glare.

"My phone's gone mad!" Donna continued, "Thirty-two texts, Veena's gone barmy, she's saying planets in the sky, WHAT have I missed now?" She turned to leave, throwing a, "Nice to meet you," over her shoulder to them.

"Like I said," Sylvia glaring harshly at them, "I think you should go."

"Not without saying goodbye one last time," Ari returned the glare.

 **-Doctor Who-**

Donna is chatting away on her mobile phone in the kitchen, putting a jug of orange juice back into the fridge, "How thick do you think I am? Planets?! I'll tell you what that was, dumbo, that's those two-for-one lagers you get down the offy 'cos you fancy that little man in there with the goatee. Haha! Yes, you do! I've SEEN ya!"

"Donna?" the Doctor called as he and Ariana appeared in the doorway, "We were just going."

"Yeah," she returned carelessly, "See ya," Ari squeezed her mates hand and they turned around heading back towards the door, "I'll tell you what, though, you're wasting your time with that one, because Suzie Mayor, she went on that dating site and she saw him! No, no, no...no, listen, this is important... Suzie Mayor wouldn't lie... not unless it was about calories! Ha ha!"

 **-Doctor Who-**

With heavy hearts, the Time Lords headed to the front door, where Wilf was waiting to let them out. It was storming outside and still pouring down with rain on the other side of that door, as the thunder clapped with an echo in the distance. It seemed the weather fitted well with their mood and the events of losing Alice and Donna Noble.

"Ah..." the Doctor began breaking some tension in the air, "You'll have quite a bit of this. Atmospheric disturbance. Still, it'll pass. Everything does," he turned to Wilf, "Bye then, Wilfred," he shook the man's hand.

He nodded as they both stepped out into the rain, "Oh, Doctor...Ariana..." they turned back to look at him, "What about you, now? Who've you got? I mean, all those friends of yours...?"

"They've all got someone else. Still, that's fine," he looked at Ariana, with a hint of a smile, "I'm fine."

It was true. He had come so close to losing her, thinking he might lose her...but she was back by his side, he would be fine.

I'll watch out for you," Wilf told them.

"Remember, you can't ever tell her," Ariana stressed seriously to him.

"No, no, no. But every night, Doctor... when it gets dark... and the stars come out... I'll look up. On her behalf. I'll look up at the sky and think of you two," his voice brakes.

"Thank you," the Doctor nodded before they turned to walk back to the TARDIS, blending into the night.

 **-Doctor Who-**

The Time Lords watch the rotor gently rising and falling, standing there soaked to the bone, tired, and so, so depressed. Ari reached out helping him out of his his sodden suit jacket. She eyed him over, seeing him gazing at the console with nothing but sorrow in his eyes. He's had to say goodbye to a lot of Companions in one fail swoop...she knew that it couldn't of been easy on him, she feels it now that human emotion called empathy...

He allowed his mate to take his hand, guiding him to follow her. Up the gantry steps and through the door, down the many hallways and to his room, she had forgotten what it was like to sleep but maybe now she needed it. They both did.

She leads him over to the bed, getting him to lay down, taking of her boots and slinging her leather jacket on the floor she come to lay beside him, letting him get used to her comforting presence, giving what strength she could even if she was feeling just as broken inside.

But she had to be the one to give them both strength. Give him that much needed support whatever necessary, in anything he did, be there for him night and day.

Ever, so slowly, he had fallen asleep to Ari brushing her fingers softly through his hair, getting comfort from the fact that she was there, living and breathing, the beats of her hearts, sending him into his dreams. With the thought that he used to one of the last Time Lords but not anymore becauause he had her for the rest of his days

 _ **To Be Continued in...Broken Hearts**_

 _ **Coming in**_

 _ **2019**_


End file.
